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Online travel travel company, lastminute.com, today said that it is still on track to make its first profit by the end of this year, in what is a symbolic milestone for one of the pioneers of internet commerce. The group’s Q3 2003 financial results show profits before exceptional items and tax of £1.6 million, up… Continue reading Lastminute.com Moves Toward First Profits

The creditors of insolvent German media group KirchMedia have voted unanimously to accept a â‚Ź1.3 billion bid for the ProSieben broadcasting business from US media investor, Haim Saban (see Saban Back In For KirchMedia). The agreement comes just two months after another â‚Ź2.0 billion proposal collapsed (see Kirch TV Deal Hits The Rocks). Saban’s â‚Ź7.50… Continue reading KirchMedia Creditors Accept Saban’s €1.3bn ProSieben Offer

The advertising recovery is taking longer than anticipated and analysts have been forced to revise their forecasts to reflect industry realities. Signs are that growth will be limited this year and hopes for a more significant recovery are pinned on 2004. The US continues to outpace the Eurozone but certain media sectors are performing better… Continue reading INSIGHTanalysis: Media Healthcheck – July 2003

Internet users with broadband connections accounted for almost a third of all consumer spending online in the US last year, despite representing less than a fifth of the online population. The findings, from Scarborough Research, are a further indication that broadband access is conducive to spending more time and money online. US broadband users –… Continue reading Broadband Users Account For A Third Of Online Spend

BSkyB’s monopoly over top-flight English football looks set to come to an end after the European Commission warned it will force the Premier League to auction off its football right packages individually. The EC insists it will not be pressured into letting BSkyB walk away with all three gold, silver and bronze packages of 138… Continue reading BSkyB Could Face Red Card Over Premiership Rights Bid

The tentative advertising recovery in the US is continuing, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch. However, growth is not strong and universal; rather, there are fits and starts between the different media, with share of adspend being moved around between them. The broker says that television and cable network advertising currently seems to be drawing… Continue reading US Ad Recovery Remains Tentative And Slow, Says Merrill Lynch

After months of twists and turns the saga of WPP’s £266 million takeover of Cordiant Communications finally closed today, as the deal was formally completed this morning. The takeover was approved by shareholders earlier this month, although rebel stakeholder, Active Value, succeeded in removing Cordiant’s chief executive, chairman and finance director from the board (see… Continue reading WPP Completes Cordiant Acquisition

Highbury Housee Communications shareholders have approved the group’s £32 million acquisition of video game magazine publisher, Paragon Publishing (see Highbury House To Buy Paragon Publishing For £32m). Highbury says that the deal will create one of the UK’s leading special interest consumer publishers and the third largest publicly-quoted consumer magazine publishing group. As part of… Continue reading Shareholders Approve Highbury’s £32m Paragon Acquisition

Revenues at Vivendi Universal fell by 14% in the three months to June, raising doubts about the price tag put on the company’s US entertainment unit. Turnover was down to €6.10 billion from €7.08 billion in the the second quarter last year, with the decline blamed on asset disposals and the falling value of the… Continue reading Vivendi Reports Sharp Revenue Drop

BSkyB has sold its 9.9% stake in Chelsea Football Club to Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil billionaire for an undisclosed amount. The satellite broadcaster has already written off most of its £40 million investment in Chelsea which is now almost wholly owned by Mr Abramovich. According to The Times, BSkyB will receive £5.9 million for… Continue reading BSkyB Cuts Its Losses In Chelsea