Posted on 07/12/2005 5:08:04 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
DreamWorks hit by SEC probe
Movie studio forecasts a loss for the 2Q on lower-than-expected DVD sales; stock tumbles.
July 11, 2005: 3:19 PM EDT By Krysten Crawford, CNN/Money staff writer
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - For at least two months now DreamWorks Animation chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg has been scratching his head over a new and worrisome question: Why isn't the most popular animation film ever released in theaters, "Shrek 2," flying off video store shelves?
According to Katzenberg, teams from DreamWorks and its distribution partner, Universal Studios Home Video, have been working hard to find the answer ever since the computer animation movie studio startled investors two months ago with news that "Shrek 2" sales were softer than expected.
At the time of its May 10 bombshell -- part of a first-quarter earnings announcement that missed Wall Street forecasts by far -- company officials limited the "Shrek 2" downtrend to North American sales.
Now that bombshell has led to potential legal problems: DreamWorks also disclosed that the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an informal inquiry into trading of its securities and its first quarter earnings announcement.
Bob Feldman, a DreamWorks spokesman, declined to provide details about the SEC probe, other than to say that the company is cooperating.
Monday, DreamWorks acknowledged that its DVD problem appears to be wider than just one film and one market. Sales of "Shrek 2" -- and the studio's other 2004 release out on home video, "Shark Tale" -- are falling short of forecasts both at home and overseas.
Investors are not happy. Dreamworks (down $3.85 to $22.96, Research) shares tumbled more than 14 percent, to $23 a share, in trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Has anyone noticed that their logo/signature before movies has changed? It used to be a boy fishing on a cresent moon, now it is a boy with balloons floating to the cresent moon? Does this mean that they now think fishing is animal cruelty?
Well, considering liberals' warped state of mind, we may not rule out such a possibility.:-)
Well, what do you expect from the rich, corporate big-business types that the Republican party is beholden to?
Maybe a lot of people are doing what I do...shun Hollyweird.
Kill A Commie For Mommie
Seven Dead Monkeys Page O Tunes
Because at the end of the day, it's still a piece of total and absolute childish garbage produced by a studio that only wishes it had a tenth of the talent to be found at Pixar?
Nah, that couldn't be it.
-Dan
a shark's tale was pretty good.
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