Avid Technology, Inc. has announced a lower outlook for its second quarter financial results. As a result of weakened economic conditions globally, revenues for the second quarter ended June 30, 2001 are projected to be below previous expectations and in the range of US$108 to $111 million. Avid's European video business and the company's worldwide audio business have been most impacted by the slowing economy, with both experiencing reductions in revenue over last year. As a result of the reduced revenue, gross profit will be lower than originally expected.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman announced that AOL Time Warner will close all of its U.S.-based Warner Bros. Studio Stores by the end of October. The move will cut another 3,800 jobs from the mega-firm and is attributed to the company's failure to find a buyer for the troubled chain store. At its peak there were 130 stores worldwide. "We're in a wind-down process," a Warner Bros. spokeswoman said. "Management decided to get out of the owned and operated retail business."

Alias|Wavefront has announced a strategic alliance with mental images, makers of the world-renowned, mental ray renderer. The two companies will work together to develop a mental ray rendering option for Maya. "Image quality is a top priority to CG industry professionals," explained Peter Mehlstaeubler, vice president of product development at Alias|Wavefront. "With this priority in mind, Alias|Wavefront has pursued an aggressive rendering development path, one which will soon be expanded to encompass a mental ray solution.

Ubi Soft Entertainment, an international developer and publisher of interactive games, surpassed its predicted sales growth of 25% for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001. Ubi Soft reported net consolidated sales of US$236 million (259.8 million euros) up 39.4% over the previous year. This growth came in spite of a 5% decline in the video games world market for the same year. Net income for Ubi Soft during the fiscal year decreased to $4.2 million (4.6 million euros). This was attributed to slow sales in the next generation market.

d-2, a Dallas-based interactive, multimedia and Web development firm, has formally announced its grand opening and spin-off from its former parent, D Animation, one of the most successful interactive, multimedia and Web development firms in Texas, having served over 300 clients, including American Airlines, Canon, Anderson Consulting and Nortel. d-2 began operations on February 15, 2001 and is currently on track to exceed $2 million in yearly billings. d-2 will focus its business services on the real estate, telecommunications, technology and manufacturing industries. Darjon R.

Licensing proves to be a viable and growing industry, according to the most recent study sponsored by the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA), in conjunction with the Yale School of Management and the Harvard Business School. According to the report, property and trademark owners received royalties of $5.84 billion from manufacturers who paid for the right to use trademarks, characters, logos and artwork to sell products in the United States in 2000, representing a $248 million increase (4.4%) in the last year.

San Francisco’s animation studio Wild Brain, Inc. is expanding its global operation with the launch of a subsidiary in Munich, Germany. Wild Trixx Media GmbH will identify co-production partners for television and feature film projects, coordinate sales and merchandising for the company’s future and existing programming, such as Wild Brain’s new 26-episode series POOCHINI, throughout Europe, and attract European-based commercials.

DIC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. has entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of Golden Books Family Entertainment, Inc., in a deal valued at $170 million. The deal entails a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Golden Books and its domestic subsidiaries, with DIC petitioning to purchase the company’s assets. Golden Books’ operations will continue as usual during the court and sale process, which is expected to take approximately 60 days. Golden Book’s assets are quite extensive.

CINAR Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Telefilm Canada to make full restitution for all investments and other financial subsidies made by Telefilm Canada in CINAR’s productions that have been decertified, or for productions for which final certification will not be granted by the Canadian Audio-visual Certification Office (CAVCO). Under the terms of the agreement, CINAR will repay Telefilm Canada approximately $2,594,000 in full reimbursement of investments and subsidies including interest.

The Harvey Entertainment Company announced on June 26, 2001 that they have completed their sale of Harvey’s classic cartoon characters, contracts and related assets, to Classic Media, LLC, in exchange for approximately US$17,000,000 and the assumption of certain liabilities. Actual funding of the transaction took place on Friday, June 22, 2001. Harvey has also officially changed its name to Sunland Entertainment Co. Inc. with the new OTC Bulletin Board stock symbol of SUNE. The name and stock symbol change will take effect Wednesday, June 27, 2001.