Company Reports: Profit plummeted (down 65% y/y to $212M), but revenues rose slightly (3.2% to $3.95B), according to
Viacom's fiscal Q1 report. A soft scatter market for ads and payment to
Harmonix shareholders took most of the blame.
Redstone and
Dauman
touted their "exceptional executive team" and "creative capability."
The markets were less impressed, driving the stock down by ~5% in
morning trading. More info from Viacom
here. ---
Sony
reported a $2B loss in its fiscal 3Q11 as floods, currency rates and
weakened global demand all took their toll. Sales came in at ¥1.8T
($23B) down 17.4% y/y. More from Sony
here.
Deals & Dollars: That $5B IPO from
Facebook comes courtesy of advertising dollars as the company revealed that 85% of its 2011 revenues of $3.7B came from ads, with U.S. companies kicking in more than half. Now the speculation is turning the the possibility of a Facebook ad network, as noted by
AdWeek. For the Facebook filing, go
here. --- In an interesting side note (or maybe not so side),
BTIG's
Richard Greenfield notes that social gaming company
Zynga is cited as a risk factor for the big IPO as it accounted for 12% of Facebook 2011 revenues. Find Greenfield's post
here (registration required). ---
Starz has licensed more than 500 movies from
Lionsgate. The product will be used for premium channels, on-demand and online services. --- Backstopped by its largest shareholder (
News Corp with 49.9%)
Sky Deutschland says it will raise €300M ($395.2M) this year. The cash will go to more HD channels and could aid the company's bid for German soccer broadcasting rights later this year.
High & Lows:
ViaSat hit an intraday 52-week high of $49.20 in early trading.
Advertising: Some bad news for traditional networks came yesterday from
Procter & Gamble CEO
Bob McDonald who told analysts that the mega-advertiser will spend more on digital media as it hopes to lower costs. More from
Medical Marketing & Media. Also,
GM backed off lots of upfront ad placements.
People: Former
Cisco VP
Inder Singh is the new SVP of finance and strategic planning at
Comcast Cable.
More News in The Morning BRIDGE ... early tomorrow in your in-box.•
