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Square Enix lowers financial forecast in wake of slow sales
Square Enix has revised its financial forecast (PDF) for both the six month period ending September 30 and its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. Expected sales for the six month period have been reduced from ¥76 billion ($952 million) to ¥61 billion ($763 million). Projected net income for the period has been reduced from breaking even to a ¥5.4 billion loss ($67 million).The fiscal year forecast, meanwhile, has dropped from ¥165 billion ($2 billion) to ¥150 billion ($1.8 billion), with expected net income dropping from ¥9 billion ($112 million) to ¥3.5 billion ($43 million).The reasons behind the revision in the six month period, according to Square Enix, were "sluggish sales" of new arcade machines and that "sales of a major HD game title have been growing at a slower pace than expected." Presumably, the game in question is Sleeping Dogs, which was released this past August to generally favorable reviews. The notice also cites the "delays of a social game service launch." Fiscal year revisions were made in light of the aforementioned issues and "uncertainties of the business environment."Square Enix's next major release is Hitman: Absolution. Agent 47 returns on November 20.
Liveblog of Apple 4Q 2012 earnings call
Today's the day for Apple's fourth-quarter 2012 earnings call. We'll be liveblogging the event, providing commentary on the event as it occurs. The fun starts at 5 PM ET sharp. Apple will be providing an audio stream of the earnings call, and the recording will be available for two weeks after.
Netflix Q3 2012 earnings: 2 million more streaming subscribers worldwide, $8 million net income
Netflix saw a return to profitability and more than half a million new US subscribers in the second quarter of this year, and it's now announced that it's added a full two million more streaming members worldwide for the third quarter. That brings the company's global base of streaming subscribers to 29 million, 25.1 million of which are in the US. It's also announced another bump in profits to $8 million in net income, with global revenue of $905 million. It's unsurprisingly a different story when it comes to DVD subscriptions in the US, however, with the company reporting a drop from 9.24 million total subscribers in Q2 to 8.61 million in Q3. In terms of usage, Netflix says that its streaming members have now consumed over three billion hours of content, and that TV shows now account for about two thirds of that viewing activity. The company has also reiterated its commitment to original programming in its letter to shareholders, although it notes that commitment comes with some front-loaded expenses that will result in negative free cash flow for the next "several quarters" beginning with Q4. The company further adds that it believes "investment in originals is wise, and we will evaluate the performance of the slate next year to determine at what level we should fund additional original." You can find the full letter and all the numbers at the source link below.
Acer see sales decline in Q3 2012 as customers hold out for Windows 8
Acer has reported a net profit of NT$68 million ($2.3 million) for Q3 of this year, ducking far below many estimates for the Taipei computer maker. According to Reuters, the company isn't offering up any reasons why profits disappointed just yet, and it plans to hold a briefing on Thursday to add more detail on the figures and its outlook. The reported results, currently unavailable direct from Acer, note that consolidated revenue in the third quarter was down 5.6 percent since Q2, although its after-tax profit has improved since then. It's a difficult time to be a PC maker. [Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
Apple's struggle to keep secret documents sealed
After winning big against Samsung in a US court, Apple is now on the defensive, battling against the same court to keep its financial information secret, says a report in Ars Technica. On Tuesday, the company faced a setback in this battle when US Judge Lucy Koh refused to seal documents that contained sensitive financial information. These documents detail "unit sales, revenue, profit, profit margin and cost data" on a product-by-product basis. Though Apple does report sales by device type in its quarterly earnings, it does not break down the sales by model, nor does it reveal its device profit margins, revenue and other similar device-specific information. This financial information is required by the court to justify the billions in monetary damages that Apple is seeking. Apple claims this data should be protected as a trade secret, but Judge Koh, the media and other groups disagree. Koh argued in her denial of Apple's request that Apple "cannot both use its financial data to seek multi-billion dollar damages and insist on keeping it secret." Koh did agree to keep the documents sealed until Apple's request is heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
AMD reports $1.27 billion in revenue for Q3 2012
While AMD wrestled to get back on the good foot last quarter, the Sunnyvale chip maker continued to struggle for the third three month financial period of 2012. While reporting $1.27 billion in revenue, the company still saw a ten percent sequential decrease and a 25 percent decrease year-over-year. The hurt not ending there, AMD's graphics division saw a revenue decrease of seven percent sequentially and 15 percent year-over-year. "The PC industry is going through a period of very significant change that is impacting both the ecosystem and AMD," said Rory Read, AMD president and CEO. Such words mirror that of longtime rival Intel, which also continues to struggle with a very unfriendly PC market. In an effort to rebound, AMD announced a restructuring plan to reduce operating expenses that will hopefully give the company more leeway to develop and produce new products and strategies.
Google's Q3 2012 earnings: $14.10 billion in revenue, $2.74 billion in operating income
In an apparent error, Google's Q3 2012 earnings have gone live smack dab in the middle of the trading day, instead of after the closing bell as expected. Early indications are that the search giant has notched third quarter revenues of $14.10 billion, representing a 45 percent uptick compared to Q3 2011. GAAP operating income in the third quarter of 2012 was $2.74 billion, or 19 percent of revenues, and that would explain the near 10 percent slide in the company's stock price. A year ago Google nailed down $3.06 billion, or 31 percent of revenues, when looking at operating profit; investors were expecting some $10.65 per share, while they got just $9.03 per share. When looking at net income, Q3 2012 saw that figure at $2.18 billion, whereas the company raked in $2.73 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Presently, trading has been halted on the company's stock as the dust settles, but one thing is exceptionally clear: pulling in billions in a single quarter won't go over well with Wall Street if its expectations see you pulling in even more.
Apple acquires HTML5 design shop Particle
According to a report in CNET, Apple has quietly acquired Particle, a consulting company that specializes in web and HTML 5-based marketing projects. The company has worked with high-profile companies like Google, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo and even Apple. It's also known for its celebrity backer, Justin Timberlake, who invested in Particle and helped fund its digital calling card service, Robo.to. The acquisition went through last month and most of Particle's employees are now working for Apple as "creative technologists." The team is expected to work on Apple's product pages, iCloud.com and iAD, all of which rely heavily on HTML 5 to deliver content.
Intel reports Q3 earnings, revenue holds steady at $13.5 billion
Hot off the heels of a slightly disappointing Q2, mega chip-maker Intel's Q3 results are in. Good old Chipzilla managed to wrangle $13.5 billion in revenues with a net profit of $3 billion. While Intel's latest figures reflect a profit of about 5.1 percent sequentially, the company is still taking a dip year over year of around 19 percent. "Our third-quarter results reflected a continuing tough economic environment," said Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO. Happy to take progress in any form during a trying economy, the company's fourth quarter strategy will highly focus on the success of ultrabooks, phones and Intel-powered tablets. While its recent gains may be somewhat slim, last we checked, a win is a win.
AMD could slash up to 30 percent of its workforce according to reports
AllThingsD and CNET are reporting that 30 percent of AMD's workforce could be laid off, though one of several unnamed sources notes the cuts could be as low as 10 percent. If these reports hold true, this would be the second round of layoffs for AMD within a year's time. The reductions will reportedly affect the firm's engineering and sales employees, and may be serious enough to cause a paring back of product lines. The silicon giant could potentially reveal its plans as early as next week, which would coincide with the announcement of its third quarter financial results. With the company expecting a ten percent revenue drop in Q3, it looks like the latest figures will continue the trend of less than ideal results.
38 Studios assets to be auctioned off in October
After a series of misfortunes, 38 Studios closed down last May and then filed for bankruptcy in June. Next month, the assets of the company that was working on the MMO known as Project Copernicus will be auctioned off. The auctions -- scheduled for October 16th and the 23rd -- will include office furniture and equipment, TVs, audio recording equipment, graphic design and animation equipment, computers, servers, and more. Currently listed in the assets are XBox 360 Development Kits, which Microsoft is requesting be removed since they are the property of Microsoft and not 38 Studios.
HP exceeds Q3 expectations: rakes $29.7 billion in revenue, still posts a loss
To say that HP is in a bit of a transitional period would probably be an understatement. As expected, the $8 billion hit it took over the EDS purchase severely impacted its bottom line. While revenue was down year-over-year to $29.7 billion, that five percent drop equated to a 568 percent decline in income as the company posted a loss of $8.9 billion. If not for the combined $10.8 billion in charges it was forced to absorb this quarter, the company's net-income would have stood at $2 billion -- which would have been a significant improvement over Q2's $1.6 billion in profit. While such a staggering loss does appear bad, the non-GAAP results should give investors some hope, as the merger and layoff related charges are a one-time deal. Still, the outlook continues to be grim at the Personal Systems Group which has seen revenue drop 10 percent over the last year. The lone bright spot in the company's line up appears to be its software division, where revenue has grown 18 percent year-over-year. CEO Meg Whitman issued a statement alongside the Q3 2012 earnings report looking to assuage nervous investors' fears. "HP is still in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround, and we're making decent progress despite the headwinds," she asserts and assures that better days lie ahead. For more financial fun, check out the PR after the break and all the tables and charts you can handle at the source.
Dish Network rumored to have bought Clearwire's $400 million debt in secret transaction
We're not in the habit of entering the dry world of corporate debt notes, but Sprint's latest financial release might disguise a juicy bit of news. There's a rumor in the business press that Dish Network might have bought around $400 million of Clearwire's debt -- helping relieve the pressure on Sprint, which has been keeping its subsidiary alive on handouts. Unsurprisingly, no-one's commenting on the rumors, although Dish CEO Joseph Clayton did say he was open to a partnership (or acquisition) with Sprint / Clearwire late last year. If true, it could signal that it's getting ready for a fight against AT&T -- or maybe it just wanted to throw Dan Hesse a bone.
Gartner reports Western Europe desktop shipments down, portable PCs up in Q2 2012
When it comes to technology and the end of a financial quarter, you can bet your wage there'll be an analyst report or two letting you what's what. And according to Gartner's latest estimates for Western Europe, PCs didn't fare too well in Q2 of this year, with a 2.4 percent decrease in shipments compared with the same period in 2011. Consignments of mobile PCs (read: not tablets) grew by 4 percent, while desktops floundered, dropping 12.8 percent. Of this, a minor growth of 0.4 percent was recorded in consumer PCs, while the professional market decreased by 5.3 percent. Among the big hitters, HP remained at the top of the pile despite losing some market share, and Acer remained in second position with a mild increase in the same. ASUS put in a healthy performance, moving the company up to bronze medal position, while Dell dropped off the podium to fourth. The vendor statistics for the whole region were echoed in France in Germany, but during the quarter Apple managed to break into the top five in the UK market. Meike Escherich, principal analyst at Gartner, attributes the overall performance to economic uncertainty in the region, as well as lackluster demand in the wait for Windows 8 machines. We don't want to spoil all the fun, so a comprehensive breakdown of the numbers awaits you at the source link.
Vringo buys small Nokia patent portfolio as asset sell-off continues
Nokia's sale of the century hour continues, selling off a small intellectual property portfolio to Vringo. The little-known app maker has snapped up a bundle of 500 patents and applications from the Finnish phone maker, including 109 issued US Patents. The collection mostly concerns backbone tech, including communication management, signal transmission and cellular infrastructure. Neither company mentioned a figure, but Vringo revealed that Nokia's getting a chunk of any future profits made. There's PR after the break if you're curious enough to wonder if Stephen Elop's planning the mobile phone equivalent of a yard sale.
HP expects to take $8 billion hit over its purchase of EDS
Normally shake ups in management and earnings outlooks don't really grab our attention. But, buried in the PR for just such moves from HP today was a particularly intriguing tidbit of information. In Q3 the company expects to be hit for $8 billion in pre-tax assets (but not cash) as part of an "impairment of goodwill" charge related to the purchase of Electronic Data Systems. That's in addition to a $1.5 billion charge it'll be absorbing following the layoff of some 27,000 employees in May. While the company has actually raised its earnings outlook for the quarter, we'll have to wait till August 22nd to find out just how much these two charges will affect the bottom line. For some more detail, check out the PR after the break.
Nikon makes $201 million quarterly profit, nearly 50 percent drop from last year, blames strong yen
Nikon's odd financial calendar means that the camera maker is announcing its first quarter results for 2013. The confusingly-dated documents show that it isn't having the best Spring / Summer, since while it pulled in a net profit of $201 million, that figure is down nearly 50 percent on the $392 million it made in the same period last year. It sold a record number of interchangeable-lens cameras, lenses and a good number of compact cameras, but that was offset against the high cost of the yen. Its other businesses, Precision Equipment and Instruments both suffered thanks to Government spending cuts, a "harsh business climate" and the now age-old problem of the high exchange rate. It's expecting the situation to remain the same in the next three months, with booming camera sales weight against losses in its other businesses -- with a projected profit of $143 million anticipated in Q3.
Mobile Miscellany: week of July 30th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, the Galaxy Nexus for Sprint and Verizon Wireless each became available for free, while in the MVNO world, Simple Mobile dropped the price of its high-speed unlimited smartphone plan to $50. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of July 30th, 2012.
Sharp pain continues with $1.2 billion loss in Q1, drastically lowered forecast for 2012
Having already scraped through a disastrous 2011, Sharp had been banking on making a small but significant profit this year. Those hopes have now evaporated, with the Japanese manufacturer's forecast of 20 billion yen ($250 million) in operating earnings for 2012 being revised down to a 100 billion yen ($1.25 billion) loss. That dose of reality is largely the result of the quarter just gone, in which hardly anyone appears to have bought an Aquos TV (despite the 90-incher being pretty amazing) or a Sharp-made LCD panel, and the company made a 94 billion yen ($1.2 billion) loss in the space of just three months. According to Reuters, as many as 5,000 staff may lose their jobs in the company's first major round of lay-offs.
Sony releases Q1 2012 financial results, eats $312 million loss
Sony's first-quarter figures for 2012 show that despite the company's optimism three months ago, it's made a net loss of $312 million. It pulled in a whopping $19.2 billion in sales for the three months ending June 30th, partly credited to bringing Sony Mobile fully into the family. However, the cost of restructuring the Mobile Products and Communications Division (of which Sony Mobile is a part) came to $143 million, wiping out the additional gains to record a loss of $356 million. Gaming-wise, the PlayStation maker suffered a $45 million loss as falling sales of the PSP and PS3 were only partially offset by the sales of the PS Vita. There was better news in its imaging division, while sales of compact cameras fell, DSLRs and "Professional" products took up the slack, resulting in a profit of $160 million. In a trend we've seen across the Home Entertainment industry, sales of LCD televisions continued to fall, forcing the company to eat a loss of $126 million. Movie and TV recorded a loss of $62 million, although that's primarily due to a dip in advertising sales in India and the cost of marketing (but not producing) The Amazing Spider-Man, the profits of which won't be recognized until September. Finally, while it spent big to purchase EMI this quarter, big-ticket albums like Usher's Looking 4 Myself and One Direction's Up All Night helped the division make a profit of $92 million. While Sony's treading water to execute Kaz Hirai's "One" Strategy, it's still got $8.4 billion stashed under the mattress, and in the face of lower sales, is hoping that reduced costs will help it make $1.6 billion in profit by the end of March 2013.