Walt Disney Co. beat Wall Street earnings expectations with improved results in some business units, but restructuring charges from its Go.com operations resulted in an overall second-quarter net loss of $548 million. Excluding the $1 billion charge resulting from the closing of the money-losing Web portal and an accounting change, for the quarter ending March 31, the company reported second-quarter earnings of $391 million, or 19 cents a share, compared to a year-ago figure of $291 million, or 14 cents a share.

According to industry sources and other published reports, Walt Disney Co. is planning cuts in both jobs and salaries at both their Burbank, California and Orlando, Florida Animation Feature studios. Coming on the heels of Disney’s recent announcement of company-wide layoffs and staff reductions totaling 4,000 employees, these cuts further illustrate the fiscal realities of both the increasing cost and decreasing profitability of the studio’s current animated feature production unit.

TV-Loonland has signed a
seven-year licensing agreement with Russia's Nox Music, providing the
Moscow-based company with video, television and merchandising rights
to 963 half-hour series episodes. The new agreement applies to the
territories of CIS/Russia, the Ukraine and the Baltic States of
Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and involved productions from
TV-Loonland's own studios as well as subsidiaries Sunbow
Entertainment and Telemagination. Nox was founded by Iosif

Animation
production house Toon Factory has finalized a deal with Luxembourg's
Neuroplanet and Canada's Vivatoon for co-production of the television
series KID CLONES IN SPACE. The two companies join Toon Factory and
French broadcaster TF1 as full co-production partners. Toon Factory
recently acquired all the rights to the property from the UK's
Cosgrove Hall, which will continue to work on the series' artistic
direction. Currently in development, the series is set to begin

Wallcoverings designer 4walls.com has announced a licensing agreement to create and distribute murals and other wallcoverings based on characters from Infogrames, Inc.'s Humongous Entertainment division. The Humongous Entertainment line of wallcoverings from 4walls.com is now available in stores nationwide. "We are very excited to bring Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam and the Backyard Kids' to the walls of children everywhere," said Ronald Soeder, president of 4walls.com.

On April 16, 2001, DreamWorks Consumer Products and The Kroger Co. announced a joint promotion that allows supermarket shoppers to earn free movie tickets to the upcoming computer-animated feature SHREK based on their grocery purchases during a four-week period beginning this week. The four-week promotion is scheduled for more than 2,000 Kroger-owned stores nationwide. Customers who purchase $300 in groceries using their shopper's card will earn two free tickets to SHREK, which opens May 18 in theaters around the country.

Big Idea Productions, creators of the made-for-video series VEGGIETALES, has teamed up with Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, for a chain-wide promotion of VEGGIETALES apparel, toys, videos, audio CDs and fabric. During April, more than 2,700 Wal-Mart stores across the United States will feature VeggieTales signage and merchandise. Shari Martin, executive director of licensing and consumer products for Big Idea Productions, said, "We are so excited to participate in this promotion with Wal-Mart, which clearly demonstrates how VEGGIETALES' popularity is exploding across the country.

Italy’s Mondo TV Group has acquired a 30.3% stake in German media company IGEL MEDIA AG. The agreement is contingent upon the approval of IGEL MEDIA AG’s supervisory board. Under the terms of the deal, Mondo will receive 1,000,000 shares of IGEL. In addition to Mondo TV’s acquisition, a commercial agreement has been signed between the two companies in which IGEL will take over Mondo’s European distribution of over 300 hours of animated productions including JESUS, THE KINGDOM WITHOUT FRONTIERS, THE SUPER HEROES and LUPO ALBERTO for all territories except Italy.

Film Roman announced on Friday, April 6, 2001, that their board of directors has rejected last minute changes to the previously announced Pentamedia stock purchase agreement, and extended the deal close date to April 13 pending continuing discussions between the two companies. Under the terms of the existing agreement, Pentamedia was set to acquire a fully-diluted 60% stake of Film Roman in the form of newly issued common stock for $15 million in cash.

Spanish animation company BRB Internacional announced at MIP TV a new major financing deal, which will help them expand their operations. Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento (BESI), an Iberian bank, has acquired 25% of BRB International. BESI is a major player in Portugal and Brazil, and part of the NYSE listed Espirito Santo Group (NYSE:ESF). The move enables BRB Internacional to consolidate and increase its position in the international audio-visual market.

AOL Time Warner and Oxygen Media announced April 3, that they will expand their existing online strategic alliance to include extensive cable distribution of Oxygen TV to the vast majority of Time Warner Cable households. America Online will also make an equity investment in Oxygen. As part of the multi-year agreement, Oxygen TV programming will be available to 10 million cable subscribers by third quarter, 2002. Time Warner Cable is the nation's second-largest cable operator.

Brilliant Digital Entertainment Inc., a developer of 3D rich media content creation, distribution and ad services technologies for the Internet, announced continued losses for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec 31, 2000. The company reported a net loss from continuing operations of $9,208,000, or $0.62 per share, for the year ended Dec. 31, 2000, compared with a net loss from continuing operations of $9,108,000, or $0.81 per share for 1999. Net revenues for 2000 from continuing operations rose 86% to $1,030,000 from $555,000 in fiscal 1999.

San Francisco, California-based Mondo Media, a leading online animation and syndication company, cut 28 of its 110 employees on Monday, March 26. The cuts affected all areas of the company. According to Robin Harper, senior VP of marketing, the layoffs do not signal fiscal trouble. “There is no financial crisis at the company. We recently raised $17 million, and this layoff is a proactive move to ensure the longevity of the company through the current economic downturn,” she said.

Munich’s TV-Loonland AG has beaten their fiscal year 2000 business forecasts, posting significant gains in revenue and earnings. Figures released by the company show revenue at DM 145.1 million, a tenfold increase over last year. Earnings, forecast at DM 11.5 million, rose to DM 16.1 million. Net earnings per share rose to EUR 1.26. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) improved to DM 21.4 million, while earnings before interest, tax and depreciations (EBITDA) improved to DM 40.6 million. The company states they have liquid reserves of about DM 65 million.

Softimage announced on Thursday, March 29, that it is restructuring its business operations, resulting in the loss of 47 jobs worldwide, 37 of which are coming from the company’s Montreal headquarters. Laid off employees will receive a severance package. Despite the cutbacks, more than 200 people will continue to be employed at the Montreal facility.

Zeros & Ones, Inc., a Santa Monica-based holding company with operations in content, technology and production, has launched Zeros & Ones Studios. The new studio will focus on cutting-edge digital animation production that will maximize the potential of Flash and other 2-D tools in the creation of media that plays across all platforms. Newly appointed VP-Managing Director Tim Rummel, has put together a team headed by Michael Adamo, co-founder of New York-based AMPnyc Animation.

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trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional

Nickelodeon has laid off 30 staffers as a streamlining measure. Most came from Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. Nick spokesmen Dan Martinsen said, the East Coast branch is moving toward a "show-to-show production model." A source said that this move is due to the economy slow down and that no other lay offs are likely. Other Viacom divisions MTV, VH1 and TNN were not affected by the cost-cutting move.

Rainbow Studios has opened a new office in Phoenix and a new satellite office in San Francisco. "At a time where many studios are downsizing or restructuring to remain competitive, Rainbow Studios is experiencing tremendous growth in all aspects of our business -- from digital cinema to game development," said Scott Novis, vice president of engineering at Rainbow Studios.

AWN's stock ticker features the most prominent publicly traded companies in the world of animation. AWN, Inc. makes available certain financial information from third party information providers. AWN does not give advice in any such fields, and has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. This information is provided solely as a means to keep our readers informed of the market performance and trends of certain companies. AWN strongly suggests that one seek advice from a competent professional regarding any investment or financial issues.