Market watchers are wincing as financial news from DreamWorks Animation continues to poke at the sore spot left by the company’s slew of layoffs and restructuring efforts. The studio has reported a loss of $38.6 million in the second quarter of the year — a drop of 45 cents per share, compared to the 18 cents per share loss during the same period last year.
In a statement, DWA noted that the losses included $20.9 million in costs related to its forward-looking restructuring actions. Without these, the loss comes to $11.6m, or 13 cents per share.
On the upside, DWA’s revenues hit $170.8 million — up almost 40% — thanks to better-than-expected results from its most recent release, Home. The sci-fi buddy comedy took in $380m in worldwide ticket sales. TV revenues also more than doubled since last year, bringing in nearly $55m. DWA’s new media ventures like AwesomenessTV accounted for $14.6m, up from $11.5 in Q2 2014.
In addition to 500 layoffs, studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg’s cost-saving changes have seen the company closing its NorCal facility and selling its Glendale headquarters, which it is leasing back from Griffin Capital. Katzenberg has also madeover the management team, scaled back the quantity of productions and averred that the studio will focus on reviving its core feature animation business. The next DWA film coming is Kung Fu Panda 3, coming January 29, 2016, which is being produced at Oriental DreamWorks in Shanghai.
🙁 This does not look great.
This is a far more challenging environment than the one that existed not that long ago, when any 3D CGI animated film would put an audience in the theater. The novelty has worn off. DreamWorks projects have always been exceptional to look at, providing the finest execution in visual design. Ideas, direction and story have rarely been at the same level. And that issue is now more of a problem. Hopefully they will find a solution other than outsourcing jobs.
So they make a profit. They just don’t make enough from one term to the next. Gotta love the public companies, they have a sense of distorting reality (what? profit is not increasing at each term!? Impossibru!)