Playdom Acquisition Adds To Disney Interactive Full Year Losses

As part of the Walt Disney Company's full fiscal year earnings, the company noted that overall revenue and profits were up, but that its Interactive Media division, which houses its video games sector, saw notable losses. The company said that the impact was due to the acquisition of Playdom, which happened late in the fourth fiscal quarter. This impact was offset by an increase in console game sales, it said. The company called out Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, Epic Mickey and Cars 2, stating that these releases had driven sales in the current fiscal year. It also noted that lower product development costs had helped improve console game sales. For the fiscal year ended October 1, 2011, Disney's Interactive Media division posted revenue of $982 million, up 29 percent compared to $761 million year-over-year. However, it posted losses of $308 million for the fiscal year, compared to losses of $234 million in the previous fiscal year. Overall, the Walt Disney Company recorded revenues of $40.9 billion, up 7 percent compared to the previous fiscal year's $38.1 billion, and profits of $4.8 billion, up 21 percent from $4.0 billion year-over-year.