Wal-mart’s net income in the first quarter increased 6.9 percent to $3.02 billion, beating estimates by 1 cent per share. Revenue rose 10 percent to $95.3 billion. Deep discounts - as high as 30 percent - helped boost first quarter profit.
Nielsen’s C3 ratings, which will be used as currency during the upfront (taking place as we speak) for the second year in a row, have failed to achieve accreditation from the Media Rating Council.
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Clear Channel’s operating results for the first quarter were flat, reflecting a continued weak demand for radio advertising. Outdoor advertising performed better than radio in the quarter for the second quarter in a row, with revenue gains of 12 percent. Radio declined 4 percent.
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Editors at Hachette’s digital operation will do well to have their digital skill sets firmly behind them. The company has reportedly chopped 15 editorial jobs from a staff of about 100 in its digital operation; those positions will eventually be refilled by employees with a “new skill set,” writes WWD.
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Radio One revenues were down 2 percent in the first quarter, from $74 million in the first quarter of 2007 to $72.5 million in Q1 of this year. Station operating income was also down, by 15 percent.
Ongoing sampling issues related to PPM technology have caused unnecessary ratings and share volatility, said Beasley’s president/COO Bruce Beasley in a Q1 conference call this morning.
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It was bound to happen: online vids may soon begin to suffer from the same ad clutter television currently endures.
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Microsoft, deciding not to make a direct offer to Yahoo shareholders for the company, has officially pulled its bid of $33 a share. The company had upped the bid from $31, but Yahoo had been holding out for at least $37 a share.
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The number of job cuts in corporate America between January and April was up 9 percent from the same time period last year.
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Nielsen plans to move its February sweeps to March of next year, to accommodate what is sure to be at least a small tempest in the ratings teapot when the country switches from analog to digital broadcast spectrum.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is slicing its distribution area from 74 to 49 counties in a move that will reduce its circulation by 2.2 percent daily and 1.9 percent on Sunday.
Strong sales overseas helped boost Procter & Gamble earnings 7.9 percent in its latest quarter. Net income for the third quarter reached $2.71 billion, up from $2.51 billion in the same quarter last year. The company also lifted its full-year outlook.
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Microsoft’s board met yesterday but didn’t come to any final decisions regarding its bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports (via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
Ziff Davis Media could be exiting from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as June.
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Katie Couric and her CBS Evening News broadcast have continued to slump, hitting yet another all-time low in the week of April 21.
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The latest report from the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed that daily newspapers have been busily engaged in business as usual: losing readers.
Succumbing to the rising costs of delivering newspapers to its customers, an Indiana paper is making the switch from home delivery to delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
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The Commerce Committee is hoping to reverse changes to the ban on media cross-ownership that the FCC voted for last December.
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Entercom’s net revenues for the first quarter decreased 4 percent to $95.4 million; same station net revenues also decreased 4 percent, and same station operating income decreased 5 percent.
Journal Communications, Inc. was struck hard by weakness in retail and classified advertising revenue at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and by a decline in local radio advertising.
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