Sinclair Broadcast Group said it earned $2.59 billion — yes, with a B — in the first quarter as it “deconsolidated” its local sports segment from its financial statements.
As a result of a March 1 corporate reorganization that included recapitalizing the debt of Diamond Sports Group, which holds the local sports networks, and raising additional capital, Sinclair Broadcast reported a $3.4 billion pre-tax, non-cash gain “on the disposition of assets.”
Hunt Valley-based Sinclair wrote off $4.2 billion of the value of the sports networks in the third quarter of 2020 after the pandemic decimated live sports programming not a year after Sinclair bought the networks for $10.6 billion.