DreamWorks Animation's fourth-quarter earnings drop sharply

DreamWorks Animation’s fourth-quarter earnings drop sharply

Feb. 28, 2012 2:02 PM PT

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DreamWorks Animation saw a sharp decline in profit in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with a year earlier, reflecting weak holiday DVD sales.

The Glendale studio reported that it earned net income of $24.3 million, or 29 cents a share, in the quarter, versus a profit of $85.2 million, or 99 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Revenue during the quarter totaled $219 million, down 21% from the same period in 2010, DreamWorks reported after markets closed Tuesday.

For the year, the company logged net income of $86.8 million on revenue of $706 million, compared with net income of $170.6 million on revenue of $784.8 million in 2010.

Part of the reason for the decline was that DreamWorks released two movies last year, ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’ and ‘Puss in Boots,’ compared with three films in 2010.

DreamWorks recently announced plans to build a studio in Shanghai, which it billed as a landmark agreement with two state-owned Chinese media operations.

Oriental DreamWorks, a joint venture with China Media Capital and Shanghai Media Group in concert with Shanghai Alliance Investment -- an investment arm of the Shanghai municipal government -- is to establish a family entertainment company in China.

With an initial investment of $330 million, the Shanghai studio would develop original Chinese animated and live-action movies, television shows and other entertainment catering to the Chinese market.

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-- Richard Verrier

Company Town Blog

Richard Verrier

Richard Verrier is investigations editor for Arts and Entertainment at the Los Angeles Times. He has been with The Times since 2001 and has run our Company Town since 2016. After stints at the St. Petersburg Times and the Orlando Sentinel in Florida, Verrier joined the paper as a reporter, and for many years covered all aspects of the entertainment industry before turning to editing. He oversees the Company Town coverage while working to guide and edit investigative and enterprise reporting across the entertainment team, collaborating with writers and editors from all departments. He is a native of Montreal and a graduate from the University of Toronto and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.