Disney Interactive sees growth in Q1 2011 despite 'acquisition accounting'
The Walt Disney Company has reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2011, and the Interactive Media department saw revenues increase 58 percent from last year over the same period, to $349 million. Despite "higher sales of console games" this year (Epic Mickey and Toy Story 3 are cited as part of the "strong performance"), the company says that the acquisition of Playdom nevertheless led to a segment operating results loss of $13 million, an increase from the $10 million loss the year before.
In other words, Disney Interactive is doing better, but was still brought down by what it calls "the impact of acquisition accounting" -- the money spent on Playdom (presumably a one-time cost) sent the department into the red for the quarter.
Unfortunately, that leaves Interactive Media to be the only division showing a loss for the quarter; Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products all showed nice growth. Disney probably isn't too worried, though. Not that Disney Interactive has another Epic Mickey-sized title coming up that we know about, but the Playdom deal's after-echos are disguising what appears to be some steady growth that the home office will hopefully see for what it is.
