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| By David B. Wilkerson, MarketWatch Last update: 4:05 p.m. EST Feb. 4, 2009 CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Time Warner Inc. on Wednesday reported a $16 billion net loss in the fourth quarter due to several write-downs and gave a further indication of the tepid growth prospects for big media during the economic downturn. The media and entertainment giant TWX 9.41, -0.37, -3.8%) took big charges to write down the value of intangible assets held by the company's cable operations as well as AOL and Time Inc. Revenue for the quarter fell short of Wall Street's forecasts, as the company felt the heat of the recession take its toll on cable subscribers and advertising rates. Shares of Time Warner fell 3.7% to close at $9.42. For the fourth quarter, the company said it lost $16 billion, or $4.47 a share, a reversal from the profit of $1.03 billion, or 28 cents a share, generated in the final three months of 2007. Excluding the charges, Time Warner said it would have earned 23 cents a share in the latest three months. Quarterly revenue fell 3% to $12.31 billion. The company had been expected to earn 27 cents a share on revenue of $12.7 billion, according to a poll of analysts taken by Thomson First Call. As big as the loss was, it was not a record for the company. In the first quarter of 2002, as AOL Time Warner, it recorded a $54 billion loss. In the second quarter of that year, it took a $45 billion loss. On both occasions, impairment charges accounted for the deficit. Link to Article |
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb. 4, 2009 by Ben Tracy (CBS) The folks at Superior Produce are getting squeezed. The Sacramento business provides fruit and vegetables to nine prisons. Now they're being stiffed by their biggest customer - the state of California. The state owes Superior $250,000 for last month alone, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy. "If we ran our business the way the state runs the state we would not be in business for 22 years," Cindy Mulhern, owner of Superior Produce, said. When the state fell behind last year, the Mulherns had to take out a line of credit on their home just to stay in business. This time could be worse. "The truth is that California is in a state of emergency," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The truth is that California is broke. Its $15 billion budget deficit is expected to widen into a $42 billion chasm. The governor and the legislature can't agree on a fix, and every day the state gets deeper in debt. "We are unable to pay all of the state's bills that come due this month," said California state controller John Chiang. To stop the bleeding Chiang is halting nearly $4 billion in payments due to state vendors, grants to college students, and funding for organizations serving the disabled. Although 2.7 million Californians are expecting income tax refunds this month, they will have to wait. The state doesn't have the money. Link to Article |  |