Games, TV, telecoms lift Vivendi
FROM VARIETY: Blizzard sales rise 58%
By John Hopwell and David Hayhurst of Variety -- Video Business, 3/3/2008
MARCH 3 | FROM VARIETY: Vivendi is rocking, but not to the sound of music division Universal Music. Earnings at the French conglom are being driven by vidgame arm Vivendi Games, paybox Canal Plus and telco unit SFR.Vivendi Games posted $274.8 million in operating profits, up an extraordinary 57% on 2006, off revenues of $1.5 billion.
Blizzard Entertainment sales rocketed up 58% to $1.2 billion, driven by a 20% increase in the subscriber base to 10 million for online game franchise World of Warcraft.
“The turnaround in Vivendi Games has clearly come through in calendar year 2007, which was a question mark at the beginning of the year,” said Paul Reynolds at Deutsche Bank.
Read the full story on Variety.com.
