A sliding CD squeezed both revenues and earnings during the recent quarter at Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
The label, a joint venture between Bertelsmann and Sony Corp., reported an earnings deficit of $8 million on sales of $851 million for the latest three-month period. Alongside a shrinking physical market, a thinner release roster was also blamed for the downturn.
Despite the rockiness, some positive spots emerged. The earnings dip is far less severe than losses of $39 million from the comparable quarter last year. And measured pre-tax, the label actually pulled profits of $8 million. Still, top-line sales dropped ten percent from $948 million previously.
The results were disclosed within a larger earnings report by Sony Corp., which showed quarterly earnings of 90.5 billion yen ($792.3 million), a reversal of year-ago quarterly losses of 20.8 billion yen ($182.1 million).
Story by news analyst Alexandra Osorio.
