Warner Music Group yesterday reported net income for the last quarter of $12 million, or 8 cents a
share. Sales fell
another 5.6% to $854 million for the quarter ending Sept. 30th.
New releases from the likes of Danity Kane and Mana
failed to match last year’s recordings from James Blunt and Faith
Hill. CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. tried to point to
digital sales, which almost doubled to 12.2% of total revenue, as a bright spot. But the real savior was the $13 million the label recieved from a lawsuit against online file-sharing service Kazaa. Without that WMG would have lost $1 million in that 3 month period alone.
"Revenue was a little lighter than expected,” Eric
Handler, a Lehman Bros. analyst told Bloomberg and rated the stock "neutral". He estimated revenue at $860
million for a loss of 2 cents a share, excluding one-time items. "Digital was quite strong – they’re outpacing the market
on that,” Handler said, but said CD sales were "quite weak".
