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THQ announces Q3 results, names new CFO to oversee company's restructuring
As it prepares to act on drastic cost cutting measures, THQ has announced the appointment of Paul J. Pucino as executive vice president and (most importantly) chief financial officer. Pucino is assuming the position -- which was left unoccupied by Colin Slade, who is on "indefinite medical leave of absence" -- effective immediately. The appointment comes in the wake of THQ's Q3 financial report, in which the company reported a net loss of $191.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2008. $70 million in cuts to product development for fiscal year 2010 are planned as the publisher attempts to remain afloat.Source - THQ Appoints Paul J. Pucino Executive Vice President and Chief Financial OfficerSource - THQ Reports Fiscal 2009 Third Quarter Result
Take-Two: GTA franchise made $710 million this year
In a conference call today following the release of Take-Two's quarterly report, CFO Lainie Goldstein revealed the GTA franchise brought in $710 million so far this year. According to GameDaily, that aforementioned chunk of ducats would account for about 60% of the company's publishing sales. In Q4, GTA brought in $40 million, which is about 17% of the company's sales.So ... yeah. The newsflash is GTA makes lots of money for Take-Two, which clearly is a huge shock to us all. Guess it's a good thing the company locked down the Rockstar talent then, huh?
Apple Q4 Earnings Call Liveblog
We're covering the Apple earnings call live via CoverItLive, starting at 5 pm ET; you can listen to the call in QuickTime here.Topline results from Apple: 1.26 per share on revenue of 7.9B, net quarterly profit of 1.14B. 34.7 % gross margin. 2.6M Macs shipped in the quarter, 11M iPods, 6.9M iPhones. Sold more phones than RIM (!). For up-to-the minute coverage of AAPL, check out AOL Money or BloggingStocks.
Capcom reaffirms strong Western development focus
In its annual report to investors, Capcom makes it clear that there's money in them thar overseas markets, and it intends to seek it out. Stating that "overseas markets account for a staggering 80% of the current video game market," the publisher outlined an overall strategy that involves further partnerships with and "friendly acquisitions" of more external developers, particularly those based outside of Japan (sales in which, according to its figures, account for $4.3 billion in sales per year versus North America's $10 billion and Europe's $9.9 billion). One current example: Airtight Games, which is developing Dark Void (pictured above) for Capcom in the West.Capcom's head of R&D – and Mega Man creator – Keiji Inafune says, "There are many independent developers overseas with genius development capabilities," and that, "Collaborating with these developed will firmly establish our position as 'Capcom of the world' and further strengthen the title brand." Capcom sees sports titles as a particularly strong market segment worldwide, and, to that end, Inafune says that "collaborating with companies with an already established record for developing sport-related games" will be key.While Capcom is seeking to expand Westward via overseas developers, EA – which has partnered with No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda 51" Suda on a new action-horror title – recently made clear its intention to tap further into the Japanese development pool in order to bolster its worldwide sales and diversify its title lineup.[Via Shacknews]
GameStop has another $1.8 billion in sales for Q2
People really love their used games. GameStop's Q2 results show the company repeated its last quarter and had sales of $1.8 billion again, reports GameDaily. CEO R. Richard Fontaine says the company produced record revenues in each of the regions it operates in and continues to kill puppies make obscene amounts of money compared to its competition.GameStop stated that GTA IV, MGS4, Wii Fit, NCAA Football 09 and Battlefield: Bad Company were its best sellers during the quarter ending August 2. The company has high expectations for the rest of the year and raised its full year guidance. The money train ain't slowing down this year.
Namco Bandai profits take a dip in Q109
It's time for Namco Bandai to bring out the katamari and roll up some loose change, as profits dipped 63% from the same quarter last year. GI.biz reports the company went from making $26 million in profit during Q108 to making only $9.2 million in Q109. The video game section of the company was the only division to see growth at 3.8% this quarter. Much of Namco's sales this period came from Europe and Asia, with Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 selling 420,000 units in the former territory. Japan brought sales with Taiko Drum Master and Tales of Symphonia at 260,000 and 215,000 units, respectively. The company expects sales to pick up over the year, but has already forecast a 31% drop in profits for the full year. Hey, at least they're just making less profit and not sending cash into the ether like Midway.
Midway bleeds another $34.8 million in Q2
It's not getting any prettier at Midway Games, as the publisher has announced it lost $34.8 million this quarter -- over double its losses the same quarter last year. This also follows Q1 losses of $34 million for the company, bringing this red-soaked mess of a year to almost $69 million in losses.Matt Booty, Midway's interim president and CEO, believes that Midway's lineup later this year, consisting of Blitz: The League II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, will "expand the audience beyond their core fan bases." We know it's sweet to try and make quotes from the Nintendo playbook, but we just don't have the heart to tell him that Midway isn't Nintendo. The financial rivers will continue to flow red as Midway expects another multi-million loss during Q3.
Analysts: EA revenues up in Q2, $100 million in losses expected
EA will announce its second-quarter results on Tuesday and, according to an average estimate by analysts, is expected to report a loss of $111 million. Forbes reports EA had a $132 million loss the same quarter last year. Not that EA is hurting for customers, revenues are estimated to be up about $200 million this quarter despite the overall loss.This second-quarter loss isn't surprising as EA -- along with almost every other publisher -- "backloads" its games to cause a hellish purchasing climate during the holiday season. Analysts are uppity with EA because this is the first quarter the company hasn't provided them with guidance, causing analysts to have a huge spread on the quarterly financial expectations. EA is also waiting for the results of an FTC investigation into its buyout of Take-Two. There's probably going to be a lot more cloak and dagger as the dethroned publishing king tries to crawl its way back to #1.
Take-Two quarterly revenues up 163% on GTA IV sales
In light of all the important news coming out of Take-Two's just-released financial report, it would be easy to skim over the actual financial numbers at the core of the release. That would be a shame for Take-Two, as the report shows incredible growth for the company when compared to last year.Quarterly revenues were up a staggering 163% year over year, from $205.4 million to $539.8 million, mainly on the strength of Grand Theft Auto IV (and not on the strength of titles like Go Diego Go! Safari Rescue). These revenues were enough to turn a loss of $29.2 million during last year's second quarter into a profit of nearly $115.4 million during this year. The company's coffers have ballooned to include nearly $1.1 billion in assets, up from $830 million at the end of the last fiscal year in October.The report also reveals that 2008 might finally be the year that the PS2 finally starts its slow decline, at least from Take-Two's perspective. At this time last year, 37% of Take Two's revenues (a plurality) came from PS2 games. This year, that ratio is down to 10%, while the Xbox 360 and PS3 shot up to 41% and 31% of revenues, respectively. The company only has one PS2 game listed on tap for the rest of the year: MLB Power Pros 2008.
GTA IV ships over 11 million copies
As part of Take-Two's glowing second quarter financials, the publisher confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV has been flying off shelves (GASP!), announcing that as of May 31, more than 11 million copies "have been sold in to retailers," while nearly 8.5 million units "have been sold through to consumers." Take-Two further puffed out its financial chest this afternoon concerning the high profile title, boasting that GTAIV surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales, selling about 6 million units worldwide and filling company wallets with more than $500 million in its debut week.
Square Enix sees gil revenue decline in FY07
Square Enix, protector of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest bloodlines, reported revenue was down for its last fiscal year ending March 31. Don't worry, Square Enix isn't going to go all Aeris, the company still saw solid revenues and profits, but sales were down about 10% to $1.43 billion, while operating income was down 17% to $208 million.Sales across Square Enix's various divisions were all down (Offline games down 19%, Online games down 11% and Mobile down 15%). For this fiscal year ending next March, SE expects $1.54 billion in sales. Although we're not even going to guess when Final Fantasy XIII is coming out, Square Enix does have some titles lined up this year with Infinite Undiscovery' s release in September and schedule Dragon Quest remakes.
Apple Q2 results liveblog, 5 pm ET
We're going to be covering the Apple earnings call live at 5pm ET / 2 pm PT, now that the earnings report is out ($1.16 per share, hot hot hot!). To listen in on the call, you can pick up the QuickTime stream here. Remember, for ongoing coverage of AAPL be sure to check out our sister site BloggingStocks.
Apple Q2 earnings call preview
Over at Apple 2.0, Phillip Elmer-DeWitt has an excellent preview post on Apple's earnings report, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the market close. We'll be liveblogging the earnings call at 2 pm PT/5pm ET if you care to join in for the fun.Despite spectactular sales and earnings growth for AAPL over the past couple of years, the Q1 earnings report (which featured extra-conservative guidance by Apple and some indications of a softening on iPod demand) triggered a selloff in the stock, with a drop in price from the lofty $200 highs at the end of 2007 (seen above) as profit-taking and recession fears drove investors to take their money and run. Will iPhone sales and Mac unit growth push profits (and the stock price) back towards the roof? Tune in Wednesday to find out.
Helio continues to bleed money, now $560 million in the red
We'll be honest with you -- it's a bit disheartening to watch the (seemingly) inevitable happen to Helio. After all, it's managed to soldier on despite hordes of other MVNOs hanging it up here in the US of A. Nevertheless, data gleaned from EarthLink's most recent annual report shed some light on its deteriorating situation. Reportedly, Helio's net loss "widened by 41.3-percent to $326.6 million in 2007 compared to $191.8 million in 2006," yet revenues managed to grow 267-percent to $171 million from $46.6 million the year prior and subscriber growth rose 28-percent over last quarter to 180,000. Add those figures to the $42 or so million it lost in 2005, and we're up to a grand total just south of 560 million American dollars. Tough times, indeed. [Via Silicon Alley Insider]
Latest financials confirm it: Sprint and Nextel probably shouldn't have merged
Well, it looks like the aggressively priced unlimited action really didn't come a moment too soon. We're no economists here, but it doesn't take rocket science, a Ph.D., collegiate level maths, or even a fancy calculator to crunch the cold, hard numbers coming out of Sprint Nextel's fourth quarter earnings call. For starters, the number three carrier in the US reported a net loss of nearly $29.5 billion, which -- get this -- is more than the combined value of its outstanding stock. Let us reiterate for emphasis and drama value: Sprint lost more money in the fourth quarter of 2007 than the company is worth. Wow. If it's any consolation, the staggering figure is largely due to a $29.7 billion write-down of Nextel's value, which as the Wall Street Journal lays out, makes the 2005 merger officially a "Deal From Hell." With postpaid subscribers continuing to migrate to other carriers, there's no telling how to stop the hemorrhaging -- especially if the fresh $99 unlimited plan doesn't end up doing the trick -- but something tells us the move to Kansas isn't going to magically patch it all up.
Apple posts first quarter 2008 results
We are in the process of liveblogging Apple's financial conference call, but Apple has already posted their quarterly results for all to read. Here's what Apple sold this quarter: 2,319,000 Macs (44% more than last quarter) 22,121,000 iPods (5% more than last quarter) 2,315,000 iPhones Revenues clocked in at $9.6 billion and a net profit of $1.58 billion.Best. Quarter. Ever.
Sony Ericsson pushes market share upward
Being a top-5 global handset manufacturer is all well and good, but being a top-3 global handset manufacturer... well, that's even better. That appears to be Sony Ericsson's goal at the moment, and it made strides in the right direction in 2007 by advancing its global market share from 7 percent to an estimated 9 percent. Amazingly, even as Sony Ericsson's average selling price fell from €146 (about $215) to €125 (about $184), its margin improved by 1.5 percent, proving that these guys can stay profitable even in the face of a brutal price war with its competitors.[Via mocoNews]
Microsoft by the numbers: Xbox down $1.9bn, sells over 1m Zunes, still $3bn richer
Oh sure, Microsoft is kind of bummed about a few things. It just posted a $1.9 billion loss ($1.2bn coming from Q406, when it started dealing with the red ring of death) and its head of Xbox, Peter Moore, just took off (or was fired); the Zune may be a bit of a laggard, selling just 1.2m units in the course of ten months (compare to Apple's brisk iPhone sales, thought to be between 500k - 1m or more in just a few days), and the fact that "Vista is doing ok, but it isn't blowing the doors off," according to one Microsoft-trading stock manager. Still, Microsoft's bottom line ain't nothing to scoff at: profit is up 7.3%, with the company taking in $3.04 billion over $51.1 billion in sales in its last financial. These figures are boring to some, we're sure, but there's something kind of fun knowing that Redmond could probably afford to buy the world's beaches at $1 per grain of sand.Read - Microsoft financials: +3bn hit pointsRead - Xbox 360 posts $1.9bn operating loss [Via Joystiq]Read - Zune sells 1.2m units, hooray Zune
Fujitsu subsidiary dinged for booking fictitious sales
While you may assume that three's company, it looks like Fujitsu Kansai Systems has little choice but to join the dubious trio in yet another round of bookkeeping scandals. Aside from questioning the quality of accounting curriculums in Japan, parent company Fujitsu is being faced with news that one of its subsidiaries allegedly "booked fictitious sales," and while we're sure it wishes the slight dip in stock prices were the only consequence, we're also hearing that "other companies may be involved with the bogus accounting at the software-consulting and sales unit." Of course, spokespersons for the company simply reiterate that investigations are ongoing, but at least one instance of circular sales involving NAJ has reportedly been divulged. So, who's next? [Warning: Read link requires subscription]
Liveblogging Apple's 2007 Q2 results
That's right, kiddies, Apple is having their quarterly results call today and TUAW will be liveblogging it. Oh, I am sure it'll be lots and lots of fun. Marvel as Apple refuses to comment on future products. Gaze upon record profits (I'm guessing). Thrill as all talk of the stock backdating scandal is avoided.The webcast starts at 2PST (that's 5pm EST) and will be available here if you want to listen yourself.
