Asarco Inc. said it lost $236.3 million...

Asarco Inc. said it lost $236.3 million in the fourth quarter and $306.1 million for 1984, largely because of $254 million in charges against earnings related to a restructuring of assets. The loss had been forecast by the mining concern. Asarco said its 1984 results were also affected by lower prices for its four main products--silver, copper, lead and zinc.

G. Heileman Brewing Co., La Crosse, Wis., said its profit tumbled 47% in the fourth quarter as revenues slipped 3%. For the full year, profit fell 19% from a year earlier. R. G. Cleary, chairman, president and chief executive, said the year and fourth-quarter sales were affected by volume declines resulting from competitive pricing by the major brewers on their economy brands.

MTV Networks Inc. said its rock music-video channel finished first among cable-television programmers in advertising revenue last year to help it post a profit of $4.5 million in the fourth quarter. Assuming a $5-million tax provision for its MTV and Nickelodeon divisions, the company said net income for the year worked out to $11.9 million. The cable-television programmer said its after-tax income for 1984 was not comparable with year-earlier results, because of different tax treatments.

Tribune Co., owner of the New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs baseball team, posted a 49% gain in profits last year to $103 million. “Contributing to our performance in 1984 were record profits among newspaper and broadcasting groups, the turnaround in newsprint and forest products in Canada and lower interest expense,” said Stanton R. Cook, president and chief executive.