Viacom earnings take hit. ($100 million charge under 1996 earnings due to closure of Blockbuster stores)(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, January, 1997 by McClellan, Steve

$100 million write-down cuts '96 earnings per share by over 50% Viacom said last week that it will take a $100 million charge against 1996 earnings, relating mostly to the closing of 50 Blockbuster Music retail outlets and the relocation of Blockbuster's corporate headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas.

Entertainment analyst Tom Wolzien estimates that the writedown will chew up more than half of Viacom's earnings per share in 1996, reducing them from about 30 cents a share to around 13 cents. "It hasn't been a good year for Viacom," Wolzien says. The impact on earnings is designed as a onetime hit that Wolzien says is tolerated by Wall Street because it is intended to improve the company's long-term outlook. But the benefits,...

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