Hollywood Media Corp. (NASDAQ: HOLL) $36M (MarketCap) Reports First Quarter Earnings

Hollywood Media owns and operates a number of online business units focused on the entertainment industry. The Broadway Ticketing Division sells live theatre tickets and related services and product through Broadway.com, 1-800-BROADWAY, Theatre Direct International (“TDI”) and U.K.-based Theatre.com. The revenues generated from this operation represent 95% of total revenues and added nearly 10% to the top line as management reported $22.2M versus $20M in revenues from the first quarter of 2009.

The Ad Sales Division is comprised of a group of companies based in the U.K. who maintain websites for cinemas and live theatres in exchange for the right to sell advertising on such websites. Concerning the performance of the segment, CEO Mitchell Rubenstein stated, “We increased advertising sales from Broadway shows by over 75% which is recorded as a reduction in our cost of revenues-ticketing, which contributed to an increase in gross margin in the first quarter of 2010 to 18.1% from 15.9% in the first quarter of 2009”.

The Intellectual Property Business includes a book development and book licensing business owned and operated by our 51% owned subsidiary, Tekno Books, which develops and executes book projects, frequently with best-selling authors. The revenues and operating loss remained unchanged at $815K and ($6.5K) from the first quarter of 2009.

Hollywood Media owns a 26.2% minority equity interest in MovieTickets.com, Inc, one of the two leading destinations for the purchase of movie tickets through the Internet. The management affirmed that “ancillary revenues and Movietickets.com continues to perform well”. MovieTickets.com released a dividend of $1.9M, or $.06 per share which resulted in a net loss for the first quarter of 2010.

Financial Highlights Include:

• For the 2010 first quarter, Hollywood Media reported a 9% increase in net revenues to $23.3 million versus $21.3 million in the prior-year period.
• Loss from continuing operations for the 2010 first quarter was ($0.8M), or ($0.02) per share, compared to a net loss of ($0.1M), or $0.00 per share in the prior-year period. Net loss for the 2010 first quarter was ($0.6M), or ($0.02) per share.
• Broadway Ticketing EBITDA nearly tripled to approximately $1M in the 2010 first quarter, versus $0.3M in the first quarter of 2009.

Looking forward, Hollywood Media’s management has reached a definitive agreement to sell its Broadway Ticketing business subject to the approval of Hollywood Media's shareholders as well as the satisfaction or waiver of certain other closing conditions set forth in the definitive agreement.