According to The Hollywood Reporter, film studios have posted record earnings for calendar year 2008. Around 1.36 billion cinema tickets were sold in the United States during 2008, compared to 1.4 billion tickets in 2007. Ticket prices rose an average of 4.7 per cent, resulting in a 2 per cent increase in overall net profits. Ars Technica has the details:

Despite the MPAA’s continuing battle against film pirates and even a French group’s warning that piracy could kill the industry, domestic box offices are doing better than ever. Both blockbusters and not-so-blockbusters propelled record-setting revenues to an estimated $9.78 billion in 2008, with ticket price increases and films from Warner Bros, Paramount, and Sony drawing captivated audiences. …

Warner Bros. topped the list of successful studios this year with The Dark Knight, which collected $531 million and became the second highest-grossing theatrical release in history. … Knocked from its first place throne in 2007 to second place this year was Paramount, grossing $1.6 billion and garnering a 16.4 percent market share. The summer release of Iron Man was Paramount’s most successful for the year, collecting $318.3 million. … Sony took third place among studios, bringing in $1.28 billion and claiming a 13.1 percent market share. Hancock was Sony’s leading star with $228 million at the box office.  Read more »

http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20090112/450_ap_slumdog_090112.jpg

Dell shares fell Friday after the PC maker posted a 51 per cent profit decline, but the Nasdaq edged up, gaining 5.2 per cent for the week.

Originally by WSJ.com: What's News Technology, 9:18 PM

Read more

Microsoft fell far short of its goal to buy back up to $20 billion of its shares, but analysts attributed the results to investors' belief that the stock will climb higher.

Originally by WSJ.com: What's News Technology, 11:18 PM

Read more

Seagate Technology, manufacturer of storage computer hardware, has almost completed its acquisition of Maxtor Corporation, a one-time competitor in consumer and enterprise hard disk drive market. Apparently, the merger — announced late last year — has now been approved by shareholders and will close within the week.

 Read more »

It seems the United States gaming industry is unhappy with an old statute that has the effect of preventing electronic gambling.

‘It represents an enormous opportunity’, said Alan Feldman, spokesman for US-based MGM Mirage, the world’s second-largest gaming operator. ‘And it is an opportunity that is being completely handed to foreign companies right now.’  Read more »

Almost a week after a news site revealed Apple Computer's nine-year GC, Nancy Heinen, had left the company, it remains unclear whether one of Silicon Valley's highest-ranking female attorneys was forced to leave or had resigned -- or even when her last day was. Although the company is notoriously tight-lipped about executive departures, the mystery with which Apple has shrouded the matter has raised some eyebrows. Heinen is one of three high-level executives to leave Apple since March.  Read more »

The announcement prompted questions about how the product would fit into the Chinese government's program of communications surveillance and censorship.

Originally by NYT > Technology, 1:42 PM

Read more

The Microsoft-Google rivalry is shaping up as a titanic corporate clash for the ages.

Originally by NYT > Technology, 1:41 PM

Read more

Microsoft's chief executive officer, Steve Ballmer, defending company spending plans that have triggered a 12 percent stock price drop since last Thursday, wrote to employees in an e-mail: "Throughout our history, Microsoft has won by making big, bold bets."  Read more »

But earnings upright after wobble

Google shrugged off the gloom that followed its previous earnings statement with a strong first quarter. The advertising monster reported a profit of $592m for Q1 2006. That's up from the $372m reported in January, which caused $18bn to be wiped off Google's value.…

Originally by The Register - Internet and Law: Wild Wild Web, 10:50 AM  Read more »