July 30, 2010
In sifting through small-business bankruptcy data, it wasn’t surprising to see that the hardest hit areas in terms of sheer numbers are in California. After all, not only is it our most populous state, but it was also ground zero of the subprime meltdown. According to recent data from Equifax , the three metropolitan areas with the most bankruptcies among businesses with fewer than 100 employees in the first quarter of 2010 were Los Angeles (1,035 bankruptcies), Riverside (736) and Sacramento (522) – all of which are located in the Golden State.
July 30, 2010
World of Warcraft has been a veritable gold mine for Blizzard; it’s the gift that just keeps on giving. And as much as Activision denies it , CEO Bobby Kotick would love nothing more than to transform the Call of Duty franchise into a similar subscription business. Analysts persist in their belief that a premium Call of Duty subscription plan is coming , and China may be a great way to get it started.
July 29, 2010
While the magazine industry finally experienced a boost in Q2 in terms of largely positive ad pages, the comeback remains fairly weak, forcing publishers to try to figure out ways of using their brands to expand their marketing muscle.
July 28, 2010
Yell Group’s March-to-June quarter is a classic snapshot of an old print classifieds company - making digital gains, but not enough to offset the declining legacy business, especially coming out of the recession. Online ad sales rose 9.7 percent from last year’s period to £111.6 million; that’s now a healthy quarter of group income.
July 28, 2010
Yell Group’s March-to-June quarter is a classic snapshot of an old print classifieds company - making digital gains, but not enough to offset the declining legacy business, especially coming out of the recession. Online ad sales rose 9.7 percent from last year’s period to £111.6 million; that’s now a healthy quarter of group income. But that group income is down 7.5 percent to £439.6 million, with EBITDA sliding 8.9 percent to £134.9 million