Wall Street didn’t expect much out of Blockbuster’s (BBI) 3Q this morning, and the company delivered even less: Revenues of $1.24 billion (down 2% from Q2, down 5.7% y/y) and a 20 cent-per share loss (same as Q2, 5 cents worse than last year’s loss) were both worse than the consensus.
Blockbuster’s play is to hunker down and hope that it can figure out a digital business before its brick-and-mortar operations become obsolete. It shuttered 526 stores in the last year, and the remaining ones have at least held their own in a declining market: Same store sales were up 1.1%.
Games business: What’s Q4 look like, without Halo3 bump or new console releases? We’re trying to figure it out. Q4 will have “different opportunities” than the past, but this is going to be a transitional quarter while we test out programs. Translation: Ooof.
Online sub business: Your subs shrunk — is industry already mature? (see above) We’re trying to figure it out. Too early too tell. Next couple of quarters very important. Focusing on store, looking ahead to digital opportunities. Translation: Yeah, our attempt to match Netflix model hasn’t panned out.