Annual Report

Annual Report

Darren Christopher Holt

BUS 340 Business Communications

What organizational differences, if any, do you see in the way each corporation discusses its annual performance? Is the data presented clearly so that shareholders can draw conclusions about how well the company performed?

I chose Comcast and Dish Network to do my research on. Both companies wrote a letter to their shareholders where they boast about the year’s performance. Both companies compete for the same customer base. Comcast is clearly a larger organization when you compare the business page, assets and where capital is invested.

Dish Network’s shareholder letter is straight to the point. They share some of their wins for the year, they hired a new CEO and they found churn is at a multi-year low. They also discuss their intentions for the future and the importance of 5G .

Comcast’s letter is longer and more aesthetically pleasing. They go much further in depth about their success in 2017. Their film business had its most profitable year ever, NBC Universal has the rights to air the 2018 Super Bowl as well as the 2018 Olympic games. There is a big focus on technology and expected results going forward .

Both Dish and Comcast share results and future expectations, but Comcast is more up front about numbers and growth. It seems as if Dish tried to bury some of the results and dance around negative results with some clever wording. Comcast’s data is pretty clear, a shareholder could easily tell the state of the business, prior performance and what to expect going forward . Dish isn’t as clear, you have to do some digging and it seemed as if some information contradicted itself. They were quick to mention the good, but try to disguise or bury the bad .

What goals, challenges, and plans do top managers emphasize in their discussion of results?

Because the two companies are competitors within the same industry, a lot of the goals and challenges mirror one another. Comcast was much more detailed in their report, they literally brake down every aspect of the business, and this includes, competition and challenges for the core products, cable, internet, phone and home security. The big difference here between Comcast and Dish is that Comcast is more than just TV and internet. The report also discusses in great detail the challenges and competition of NBC Universal, this includes the NBC channels, film development and theme parks. They have to remain relevant and the movies and NBC t.v. content has to win consumer interest and support .

Dish is a much smaller company, but a lot of their challenges are shared with Comcast. Cord cutters and consumers looking to simplify packaging are a risk, over the top providers continue to pop up. Competition is extremely high. This makes it hard to produce subscriber growth and minimize churn .

How does the format and organization of each report enhance or detract from the information being presented?

The format and organization are not identical but extremely similar, so both are at the same level in this category. Both reports were 200 plus pages long, the length alone detracts from the message. It is all valuable and pertinent information, but a lot of the information was common sense and unnecessary in my opinion. I personally would appreciate a simplified version, I believe more people would actually research and educate themselves about companies. The length and the fact that it looks like you need to be a lawyer to understand detracts from all of the beneficial information.

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