Seth Gilbert, 02-5-2007
I Can’t Buy Me Love but can I buy me a Beatles download? Are Beatles songs coming soon to iTunes?
After three decades of fighting, for a third time, Apple and the rights holders of the Beatles’ music catalog (Apple Corps, Ltd.) settled their trademark disputes.
The History: The first trademark suit was filed in 1978 and settled in 1981 with Apple Computer paying Apple Ltd $80,000 and agreeing not to enter the music business. In the late eighties, Apple Corps sued again claiming the inclusion of MIDI music software on Macintosh computers violated the terms of the earlier agreement. Apple Computer (a.k.a. Apple Inc.) settled in 1991. The deal included a cash payment and separation of uses: Apple Corps would have rights to the apple logo for selling and making music. Apple Inc. would have the rights for selling
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Seth Gilbert, 02-3-2007
Gannett Co (NYSE: GCI), the nations largest newspaper company based on circulation volume, reported Q4 earnings.
The company announced net income was up 3% on the quarter. Earnings were up $10.2m to $353.5m ($1.51/share). Revenue was up 7.5% to $2.21b. Both returns beat analyst consensus estimates.
In the rough newpaper ad market, the company had ad revenue up 3.7% but that was partly attributed to an increase in December from an extra week. USA Today was the best performer with 13% ad growth (8% if adjusted to remove the extra week).
The television station holdings had Q4 revenue of $270.6m, up 30.3%.
More detailed press coverage on Gannett’s finances can be found at:
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Seth Gilbert, 02-2-2007
Amidst heavy spending on new initiatives Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), reported Q4 numbers.
EPS were down to 23 cents versus 47 cents a year earlier for the same period.
Revenue was up to 34% to $3.99b from $2.98b. Spending on technology and content was up 34% to $177.
Despite revenue growth analysts were generally concerned with trends in profitability.
More detailed press coverage on Amazon’s finances can be found at:
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Seth Gilbert,
Game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) (NASDAQ: ERTS), reported Q3 earnings of $160m, down 38% do to a lack of holiday hits. Excluding costs of stock options and other items, the adjusted amoung was $201 (63 cents a share) beating analyst consensus estimates of 57 cents.
Revenue for the quarter was slightly up at $1.28b. The company was partly hurt by production shortages and there impact on sales of Sony’s PS3 Platform on which EA had invested heavily. EA was also not well positioned for the launch of Nintendo’s rival Wii platform.
During the quarter, EA did acquire Headgate Studios, a company that had focused on the Nintendo Wii. That may improve performance toward the tail end of this fiscal year.
More detailed press coverage of EA’s finances can be found at:
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Seth Gilbert, 02-1-2007
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), released earnings for the 4th quarter showing growth in its cable business lines, improved ad sales with AOL but declines in print businesses including marquee Time magazine.
4th quarter net income was up 34% to $1.75b. The results showed gains from the sale of Internet access business in Europe and tax benefits. The company also reported a one time $615m charge for potential legal liabilities associated with securities litigation.
Net margins were up 2.7% to 14.1% for the quarter. In the cable business operating profit was up 26% and revenue up 58%. In the film division sales were down 15% and profit down 39% based in part on lower the hoped 4th quarter home video sales.
S&P Credit Analysts rate Time Warners debt at BBB+. The debt load is up to $33.4b from $17.4 because of the acquisition of Adelphia.
More detailed press coverage on TWX finances can be found at:
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Seth Gilbert,
New York Times (NYSE: NYT), reported Q4 earnings.
The company took an impairment charge of $814m to for the declining value of the Boston Globe property. Inclusive of that charge, for Q4 the times reported a loss of $648m equal to EPS per share of ($4.50) versus $0.43 for the prior year.
Revenue came in at $931m, up from $893. By division, advertising accounted for $626m and circulation $235. Other divisions provided $70m. All three categories were up over Q4 of the prior year.
More detailed press coverage on New York Times’ finances can be found at:
Yahoo Finance
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Marketwatch
Seth Gilbert, 01-31-2007
EBay and other companies ambitiously targeted China and drooled over the potential goldmine of revenue to be reaped from its gigantic population base. Each aspiring effort has proved a costly struggle to realize. (EBay recently restructured its offerings there.)
Casino Royal was recently released to widescreen audiences in China. With over a billion potential viewers, Sony aggressively pursued the release which was scheduled for around 1000 screens. Censors were given early access to review the film for objectionable content (Previous Bond movie Die Another Day (2002) was rejected outright). Even Danielle Craig, the star, was in Beijing for the premier.
The James Bond franchise finally making it to Beijing underscores yet again the promise and pitfalls of breaking into new international markets, especially China, where government controls make it among the most extreme environments for any would-be marketer to navigate and profit from.
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