China joins India with formal backing for Copenhagen Accord
All major greenhouse gas emitters bar Russia have now formally endorsed Copenhagen deal China has today joined with India in formally signing up to the Copenhagen Accord, making it the last major emerging economy to endorse the controversial agreement...Read more |
Interactive Ideas set sights on Germany
Distributor appoints account manager to oversee German sales drive Distributor Interactive Ideas has expanded its management team to drive sales of the SolarWinds application management product portfolio in Germany. The firm has appointed Michael Meyer, Read more |
Symantec to reward storage savers
Vendor to reward VARs with financial incentives for datacentre efficiency gains. Symantec is to launch a partner incentive initiative aimed at helping end users make better use of their storage infrastructure capacity....Read more |
Fujitsu shares collapse over redundancy row
Former president reveals illness was not the real reason for his departure Former Fujitsu president Kuniaki Nozoe has revealed he was forced to leave the firm in September owing to connections with an unnamed business of " unfavourable reputation"....Read more |
CRC threatens smart meter supply pinch
Consultancy warns rush to install Automatic Meter Reading systems could result in some smart meter projects taking longer than expected A clause in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) regulations that allows firms to climb the league table showing partRead more |
EA in the red for 12th quarter in a row (AFP)
NEW YORK (AFP) – US videogame giant Electronic Arts was unable to fight its way out of the red over the Christmas holidays, and has posted a net loss for the 12th consecutive quarter.
The Redwood City, California-based company behind the "Sims," "Madden" and other games posted a third-quarter net loss of 82 million dollars compared with a net loss of 641 million dollars a year ago.
Revenue for the quarter which ended on December 31 declined 23 percent to 1.24 billion dollars.
"The decline is due to several factors, including fewer titles this holiday quarter versus the 2008 holiday quarter, and a weak overall packaged goods sector in Europe," EA said in a statement Monday.
It said sales were driven by the launches of "Dragon Age: Origins," "Left 4 Dead 2" and "NBA Live," and catalog sales of "FIFA 10," "Madden NFL 10," and "The Sims 3."
EA said it expected revenue of between 925 million dollars and one billion dollars in the current quarter.
"'Mass Effect 2' is the first blockbuster of 2010 and we are looking forward to the launch of "Dante's Inferno" and 'Battlefield Bad Company 2,'" EA chief executive John Riccitiello said.
For the current quarter, Wall Street analysts had been expecting earnings per share of up to 13 cents and were disappointed by the two cents to six cents reported by EA.
For fiscal 2011, EA said it expected revenue of 3.45 billion dollars and 3.70 billion dollars, below the 4.07 billion dollars expected by analysts.
EA shares tumbled in after-hours electronic trading, losing 8.40 percent to 16.30 dollars.
"The company cannot find its footing and cannot find its way home," analyst Jon Ogg said on 247WallSt.com.
"In fact, things are getting to the point that many holders and traders are starting to hope that the price of the stock is low enough that the company will just get acquired."
Videogame sales in the three leading markets -- Britain, Japan and the United States -- declined eight percent last year to 379.3 million units, according to a Top Global Markets report released last week compiled using figures from the NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Ltd and Enterbrain Inc.
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