National earnings

Viacom Inc.The big media company whose MTV show "Skins" has been in the spotlight for its racy portrayal of teenage sexuality, reported lower earnings and revenue Thursday. Gains in advertising failed to offset a sharp drop in DVD sales at its film studio, Paramount Pictures.

Viacom reported gains in revenue and operating income at its main profit center, the big cable networks like MTV, VH1, BET and Comedy Central, even as the financial performance of its Hollywood unit declined sharply. Still, Paramount made a strong showing at the box office, releasing two Academy Award-nominated films in the quarter, "The Fighter" and "True Grit." But ticket sales were offset by the drop in DVD sales, historically the most lucrative revenue stream for film studios.

Philippe Dauman, Viacom's president and chief operating officer, said in a statement, "We expect our home entertainment results to improve as we now move past the last few quarters of difficult year-over-year comparisons."

In the quarter, which ended Dec. 31 and was the first of Viacom's fiscal year, revenue from home entertainment -- the bulk of which is DVD sales -- dropped 44 percent, to $638 million. Viacom attributed the decline partly to a lack of blockbuster releases. Last year, it benefited from popular DVDs like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Overall, revenue in the quarter fell 5 percent, to $3.8 billion from about $4 billion. Analysts had forecast a slight gain in revenue of $4.07 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Net earnings declined to $610 million, or $1 a share, from $694 million. According to Reuters, adjusted earnings of $1.02 a share beat the $1 a share that Wall Street analysts had forecast.

Sony Inc.Hit by a strong yen and falling TV prices, Sony said Thursday that its profit fell 8.6 percent in the fiscal third quarter from the same period a year earlier. The decline came as the company made a renewed push in music and gaming with a flurry of new services and gadgets.

Net income at Sony, the maker of Bravia televisions and PlayStation game consoles, was 72.3 billion yen ($886 million) in the three months that ended Dec. 31, compared with 79.2 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. Besides the currency, profit was hurt by the ever-intense competition in the global flat-panel TV market. In comparison, net profit for the same period was $6 billion at Apple and an equivalent of $3 billion at Samsung Electronics.

The company said that brisk sales of video game software and its digital single-lens reflex cameras, as well as stronger results from smart phones from its Sony Ericsson subsidiary, had helped buoy its bottom line.

International Paper Co.The world's largest paper and pulp maker reported fourth-quarter profit Thursday that beat analysts' estimates as a recovering global economy spurred demand for cardboard packaging.

Net income was $316 million, or 73 cents a share, compared with a loss of $101 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier, the Memphis, Tenn.-based company said Thursday in a statement. Profit excluding an income-tax adjustment gain and other one- time items was 68 cents a share, the company said, topping the 65-cent average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Increased demand for containerboard, the corrugated paper used to make shipping boxes, allowed the company to raise prices last year. International Paper's sales of industrial packaging rose 2.7 percent in the quarter to 3.58 million short tons from 3.49 million a year earlier.

Royal Dutch ShellEurope's biggest oil company, posted earnings Thursday that missed analyst estimates for the first time in a year on weak refining margins. Excluding one-time items and inventory changes, Shell earned $4.1 billion in the fourth quarter. That missed the $4.7 billion mean estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Net income increased to $6.79 billion from $1.96 billion a year earlier, the Hague-based company said Thursday, boosted by higher oil prices.

Kellogg Co.The largest U.S. maker of breakfast cereal said fourth-quarter profit rose 7.4 percent as interest expenses declined.

Net income increased to $189 million, or 51 cents a share, in the quarter ended Jan. 1, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said today in a statement. Analysts anticipated 51 cents, the average of projections compiled by Bloomberg. Interest expenses dropped 38 percent.

Sales fell 1.4 percent to $2.86 billion last quarter, capping the second straight year Kellogg's sales have slumped. In December, the maker of Froot Loops cereal and Keebler cookies promoted Chief Operating Officer John A. Bryant to the top job, tasking him with reviving North American cereal sales and coming back from a recall that pushed revenue in that business down 5 percent.