First Quarter EPS below estimates
For the sixth straight quarter, Google’s earnings fell below analyst estimates, with earnings per share of $6.57 against analysts expectation of $6.61. But investors were pleased with a healthy bump in the number of paid clicks on Google ads and comments from executives about the growing popularity of ads on YouTube, sending shares up 4% to $567.45 in after-hours trading.
Stock crashes after early earnings release
The Company’s stock crashes after financial analytics firm Selerity posts a quarterly report before the stock market closes. The report shows revenue growth at 74 percent in the quarter, which is below the company’s own forecasts. Twitter shares plunge on the news, and trading briefly halts so the company can disseminate its results. The drop steepens and the stock ends the day down about 18 percent. Executives attribute the slowdown to a transition to an advertising model that prices certain ads based on the result, such as whether the viewer downloaded an app, instead of whether the person simply clicks on it.
Issues profit warning as advertisers cut spending
Johnston Press reports that full-year profits would be down by around 5.5% and half year profits by around 5% after it saw a fall in advertising revenues and circulation sales in the 26 weeks to 4 July 2015. The company said advertisers chose to hold off and slash spending across print and online amid the uncertainty caused by the election. The share price falls by more than 16%. CEO Highfield:
Trading conditions in the first half of 2015 have undoubtedly been challenging, especially in the period around the general election – a time when there was also a high degree of uncertainty in the wider market.
Malaysian economy stable
Malaysia still remains stable despite weaknesses coming from the external front, including lower oil prices and the situation in the eurozone. The government has since revised the fiscal deficit projection to a manageable target of 3.2 per cent of GDP for 2015.
Stock down 7%
Apple stocks fall 7% after it releases its third quarter financial report showing that iPhone sales were lower than investors expected. Even though revenue is up 33% at $49.6 billion, iPhone sales are short 1.3 million units than expected in part due to low inventory. iPhone sales make up half of Apple’s revenue. CEO Cook:
Channel was down by 600,000. We sold more units than we thought we would. We always run with just the inventory we thought we need. In this quarter, we were able to end right at the bottom end of our range. Revenue would have been higher if we expanded channel, but that’s not how we think of the business.
First-half losses grow
Air France-KLM promises further acceleration of cost-cutting as it reports widening of first-half losses to of 619 million euros. The company will add a further 300 million euros ($328.4 million) to a previously announced 1.5-billion-euro cost-cutting programme. Group chief executive Juniac:
The lack of results improvement leads us to implement immediate additional adaptation measures including, in particular, the closure of heavily loss-making routes, the downward revision in capacity for the forthcoming winter season, together with an acceleration and an increase in the magnitude of our cost-saving initiatives.
Shares fall
Twitter shares plunge on the New York Stock Exchange, dropping 5.6% to $29.27 which is the lowest level ever. The share price has fallen a total of 45% in four months. Co-founder Dorsey:
We haven’t done a great job at aligning the entire company around our total audience strategy.
Stock falls
Keurig shares fall about 30% in pre-market trading after announcing that sales are down and the company plans to cut its workforce by 5%. The stock is down 43% year-to-date. CEO Kelly:
While we are not pleased with our revenue growth, we delivered earnings at the high end of our previous guidance.
Stock drops 10% on earnings drop
Walmart has its worst stock decline in more than 27 years after predicting a drop in annual profit. Earnings will decrease 6 percent to 12 percent in fiscal 2017, which ends in January of that year. Analysts had estimated a gain of 4 percent on average. Efforts to raise the minimum wage to a goal of $10/hr combined with an expanded training program, added about $1 billion in costs this year and $1.5 billion next year. Shares fell 10 percent to $60.03 in New York, the biggest drop since January 1988.
Files for IPO
An SEC filing (document) reveals the company is officially seeking an initial public offering, as well as financial information: In the first half of 2015 Square took losses of $77.5 million on revenue of $560.5 million. In 2014, the company reported gross payment volume of $23.78 billion. The filing reveals retail the biggest source of transactions for the company constituting 21 percent of its gross payments volume. Other sectors include services, food, beauty, contractor, and transit. The filing also says Dorsey’s role as the CEO of Twitter and Square is a risk factor:
Jack Dorsey, our co-founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer, also serves as Chief Executive Officer of Twitter. This may at times adversely affect his ability to devote time, attention, and effort to Square.
Highest earning dead celebrity
Forbes says Jackson has earned more than $1 billion pre-tax since his death, which is more than enough to pay off his personal debts. in 2105 the estate made $115 million, in part from the Vegas Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson One, the Mijac Music catalogue, recorded music sales and half of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which includes the rights to 250 Beatles songs.
Profits rise by more than a fifth but further cuts loom
Johnston Press reports total revenue for 2015 was down by 6.8% from £260m in 2014 to £242.3m last year. However, profits increased by 22.6% to £31.5m by reducing costs to £191.7m from £205.3m in 2014. CEO Highfield says the group hopes to sell some brands and some of its key assets. However, he said he “could not rule out” closing some titles. Debt is down by £14.8m to £179.4m from £194.2m in 2014, with interest payments reduced by almost £10m to £19.1m. The number of people reached through Johnston’s digital titles was up by 40.7% to 22.6 million, with digital advertising revenue rising by 12.4% to £30.6m.
We are a plc and our primary objective is to keep the business moving forward … we have to make profits. We are all on the same side here, which is try to get the business back to growth and get the long-standing debt off our shoulders. The tough trading conditions have already been highlighted by DMGT and Trinity Mirror. We are being prudent in not anticipating it getting better and we are going to make sure we are cutting our cloth appropriately.
Highfield also says Johnston has filled all but two of 50 roles for i for when it takes control of the title on 10 April, filling the roles from The Independent within two weeks.
Full-year results ‘meet City hopes’
Johnston Press reports that group revenues were down 13.7 per cent during the 17 weeks to 30 April, reflecting a 14.4 per cent fall in the first quarter and an “improved rate of decline of 11.5 per cent in April”. The group said i daily print sales peaked at 297,849 for the month, a rise of 7 per cent over the peaks seen in March 2016, its website, inews.co.uk, reached 638,000 unique users. Advertising revenues for the period were down 16.9 per cent, while digital revenues were down 5.7 per cent in the first quarter but up 4.5 per cent for April. CEO Highfield:
Following the completion of the i acquisition, we continue to explore the disposal of certain assets, with a view to deleveraging the balance sheet and further reducing financing costs.
Writes off half the value of newspaper properties
Johnson Press announces it is taking a£183.6 million impairment charge (£216.9 million gross, net of £40.3 million in deferred tax), lowering by nearly half the value of the company. The action sends the company’s stock down over 18 percent. The Company also announces revenue drop of 9.7 percent in the second quarter, with ad revenue falling 15 percent. Net debt grew to £209.4 million due to the acquisition of the i in April for £22.0 million. Highfield:
The market continues to be challenging and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the Brexit negotiations has caused further softness in some segments of the advertising market, in June and July. Nevertheless, we are focused on our strategy of increasing overall audiences, maximising opportunities for the i, maintaining tight cost control and rebalancing our portfolio. In that respect, we are nearing completion of the disposal of our Isle of Man newspaper group for £4.25 million and are well advanced in negotiations for further divestments.
$3 million purse
The Nevada State Athletic Commission confirms McGregor’s purse for UFC 202 is $3 million, the richest disclosed purse in MMA history. McGregor became the first UFC athlete to ever receive a disclosed purse of $1 million, for UFC 196. Brock Lesnar surpassed that record at UFC 200 with a disclosed purse of $2.5 million.
UFC 202 broke PPV records
Sources say that the DirecTV numbers for UFC 202 were the highest in the promotion’s history. Current estimates have the show doing 1.65 million buys on pay-per-view, putting it slightly ahead of UFC 196, the first McGregor vs. Diaz fight, which was estimated at 1.6 million. Both would be ahead of the prior record set at UFC 100 for the second Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir fight UFC’s own pay-per-view orders through the Internet were believed to have also broken the record set at UFC 196. On the night, the show sold 12,657 tickets, and including late discounting, and there were 14,060 in the building. The live gate announced the night of the show was $7,629,010.
My numbers don't lie. https://t.co/xTatIEpuct
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 7, 2016
McGregor’s UFC 205 headline brought $57 million to New York
A UFC-commissioned study says UFC 205 brought in $57 million of benefits to New York city. In addition to ticket receipts totaling $17.7 million and big spending from domestic and international visitors, the McGregor-headlined card contributed a total of $37.4 million in economic output for NY, surpassing the promotion’s initial $32 million projection. Salaries and wages tied to the event added $18.3 million more, and the UFC also paid out $1.6 million in state taxes. 300 jobs were created. Governor Cuomo:
Mixed martial arts competitions have already proven to be major economic drivers across New York, and the jobs and revenue generated by this event illustrates the enormous impact of this growing industry in our state.
Johnston Press reports £300m pre-tax loss
The company reports a £300.3m pre-tax loss for 2016, compared to a £2.2m pre-tax profit the year before. Total advertising revenue is down 17.7% year on year to £122.6m, driven by a 9.5% fall in print ad revenue. The fall in print advertising income was not offset by digital ad revenue, which remains flat at £18.6m. Sales volumes for i was up 5% year on year, while circulation revenue was up 20% year-on-year. Highfield:
Despite an industry wide backdrop of significant downward pressure on revenues, the actions we have taken to pilot the business through this rapidly-changing market and create the conditions from which to create growth are starting to bear fruit: circulation figures of key titles are improving, the i has bucked the trend of declining national newspaper sales and our progressive editorial and sales models are starting to transform our regional businesses. While we can expect to see continued pressure on traditional print revenue streams, we have seen digital return to growth in Q1 2017, with better margin products, and will see growth from our investment in the i from both the newspaper and website. Further, we will start to see the benefits of our restructured sales teams and product roll out.
McGregor to earn $100 million for fighting Mayweather
White says he expects McGregor to make $100 million from fighting Mayweather. Mayweather has previously said he expects to ear $300 million from the fight.
I made 300 [million dollars] in one night [vs. Manny Pacquiao]. Throughout my career I made 800 [million dollars] and it’s possible I can make another 300 [million dollars].
White: Tickets for promo tour selling out fast
White confirms that 30,000 tickets have been sold for the the McGregor-Mayweather press events at the Los Angeles and Brooklyn stops alone.
Staples Center is sold out, and by sold out, I mean we did tickets and there’s no more seats left. Barclays [Center] sold out. We had to get a bigger venue in Toronto, and we’re doing Wembley in England. It’s going to be crazy.