FOX HITS GRAND SLAM; PARENT COMPANY OF DODGERS REPORTS STRONG QUARTER DAYS BEFORE IPO.Byline: Karen Fessler Bloomberg News News Corp. said its Fox Entertainment Group Inc.'s fiscal first-quarter profit doubled on hit movies, boding bod·ing n. An omen or foreboding, especially of evil. Noun 1. boding - a feeling of evil to come; "a steadily escalating sense of foreboding"; "the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge would dismiss the case" well for the media company's sale of stock in Fox to the public later this week. Net income rose to $57 million, or 10 cents a share, from $28 million, or 5 cents, in the year-earlier quarter ended Sept. 30. It was the first quarter that News Corp., the world's fifth-largest media company, reported the U.S. unit's earnings separately. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch is seeking to fuel investor demand for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. of Fox, which is gaining momentum in its film business with hits including the blockbuster movie ``Titanic Titanic (tītăn`ĭk), British liner that sank on the night of Apr. 14–15, 1912, after crashing into an iceberg in the N Atlantic S of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 lives were lost. .'' The Sydney-based entertainment company is expected to sell 13.4 percent of Fox, or 85 million shares, to raise about $1.9 billion. ``This is an excellent sign for the IPO,'' said Bishop Cheen, analyst at First Union Capital Markets. ``They've got so many good things happening.'' Revenue rose 22 percent to $1.8 billion from $1.48 billion. Fox Entertainment, which is headquartered in Century City, consists of 22 TV stations, the Fox network, 20th Century Fox film studio, cable networks such as the Fox News Channel, the Los Angeles Dodgers "Dodgers" and "Brooklyn Dodgers" redirect here. For the American football team, see Brooklyn Dodgers (football). For the Eastern Basketball Association team, see Brooklyn Dodgers (basketball). team and other assets other assets Assets of relatively small value. For financial reporting purposes, firms frequently combine small assets into a single category rather than listing each item separately. . The 20th Century Fox studio had the largest share of U.S. box-office receipts this summer. Hits include the modestly budgeted ``There's Something About Mary,'' which has taken in about $170 million in the U.S. and Canada, and ``Dr. Dolittle,'' which took in about $143 million. The movies boosted results over last year, when the company released flops such as ``Speed 2.'' `` `Mary' has been massively profitable for Fox and will probably spawn To launch another program from the current program. The child program is spawned from the parent program. (operating system) spawn - To create a child process in a multitasking operating system. E.g. a sequel,'' said Dave Davis, an analyst at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. ``They've had a really strong year.'' Fox also included part of the domestic video sales of ``Titanic'' in the results, though it didn't provide details. The company said international video sales of the movie will be recorded in later periods. Fox's TV division didn't fare as well because of softness in the U.S. TV advertising market that resulted in part from a strike at General Motors Corp., which led the automaker to cut back on its ad spending. Fox included the Los Angeles Dodgers in the TV division, though it didn't break out the results. Fox plans to sell shares at $21 to $24 each some time this week. At the midpoint mid·point n. 1. Mathematics The point of a line segment or curvilinear arc that divides it into two parts of the same length. 2. A position midway between two extremes. of that range, the offering would raise $1.91 billion, making the transaction the fifth-largest U.S. IPO ever and giving Fox a market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. of $14.2 billion. |
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