Cinemark Q3 loss
Movie theater operator Cinemark Holdings said Monday that it swung to a third-quarter loss as a jump in taxes offset revenue growth. Cinemark posted a loss of $23.4 million, compared with a profit of $2.3 million for the same quarter last year, on revenue that rose 64% to $471.5 million. Admissions revenue jumped 73% to $308 million, while concessions revenue increased 60% to $144.3 million, both of which benefited from the acquisition of Century Theatres last year and from a 30% increase in the average ticket price. Before the earnings report, shares of Cinemark rose 3.2% to $17.62.
Uptick for TF1
French broadcaster TF1 said Monday that its operating profit rose 20.6% for the first three quarters thanks to lower programming costs, but the figure came in below analysts’ forecasts. The company declined comment on its 2007 guidance or its outlook on advertising revenue, which rose 0.5% in the first nine months. TF1 posted an operating profit of €234.5 million ($342.2 million). Revenue rose 4.5% to €2 billion ($2.9 billion).
Yedda to AOL
In its second acquisition within a week, AOL, the online unit of Time Warner, said Monday that it has purchased Yedda, a social search question-and-answer service. Financial terms were not disclosed. Yedda uses patent-pending technology that automatically matches questions to other related questions and topics while selecting the best available users to answer the question. AOL plans to integrate the service into programming areas of AOL.com and other areas in the coming months as well. Yedda, which has about 20 employees, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL.
