Blockbuster reported a loss of 26 cents a share, much worse then a consensus estimate loss of 15 cents a share. Revenue, however, outperformed the consensus, $1.47B to $1.36B. The company also announced this morning that it sold its U.K. specialty games retailer Games Station Limited to The Game Group for about $150 million in cash, with the majority of the proceeds going to pay down outstanding debt.
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9:50am: Logging into the conference call now, although these never start on time, let alone early. Here comes fifteen minutes of listening to elevator music...
10:00: As a point of interest, I just looked at Blockbuster's stock, and it is trading down 40 cents to $5.81. Still waiting for the call to begin.
10:05: An operator just chimed in to let us know that the call would begin shortly, and then put us back on hold. Tease.
10:08: And here we go. The director of investor relations, Ms. Torres, is reading the standard legal mumbo-jumbo.
10:09: Larry Zine, CFO, gets handed off the call. He said increasing the subscriber growth is the key to the company's economic model. He is now going over the results -- $1.47B in revenue, rental revenues of $1.05B. Blockbuster Total Access offset slowing in-store rentals. The company met its aggressive online growth objective -- adding 800,000 online subs.
10:13: Zine continued, saying the rental industry remained under pressure, putting pressure on rental gross margin. Operating loss was 26 cents per share. The company announced the sale of Game Station, with a large amount of proceeds (about $150 million) going to pay off debt and strengthen the balance sheet. Reduced debt by $500 million since November 2005.
10:16: Zine summarized, saying they are taking the right steps to strengthen the company.
10:17: CEO John Antiocco got the mic. He said the company had 60% of the subscriber growth in the online space. Grew subscriber base by 35%. Nearly doubled online base in five months to 3 million. The company seems real focused on Total Access and the online market.




