“Napster provided a disappointing outlook for its online music service and said its subscriber base had fallen 7 percent as it focused on promoting a new free Web site on Wednesday,” Sue Zeidler reports for Reuters.
Zeidler reports, “On a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive Officer Chris Gorog said he would not rule out a sale of the company. ‘We do not have our heads in the sand regarding an M&A (merger and acquisition) transaction. We continue to receive a lot of interest in the company. We will always carefully weigh any valuation alternative against the opportunity and risk associated with continuing as a standalone company,’ Gorog told analysts on a conference call.'”
“Napster reported a net loss of $9.8 million for the first fiscal quarter compared with a year-earlier loss of $19.9 million. Revenue rose to $28.1 million from $21 million,” Zeidler reports. “Napster’s total paid subscriber base as of June 30 was 512,000, including 4,000 university-paid subscriptions. Excluding university, the number of paid subscribers grew 26 percent year-over-year.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “NeverFade” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: The gravy train of foolhardy colleges and universities has finally derailed for beleaguered Napster. To describe the outlook for beleaguered Napster as “dismal” would be far too charitable.
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Maybe after their demise we’ll finally here the end of Subscription Music…I want to “own” my music…not pay for the privlege of listening to it. Pyay for it once…then listen to it endlessly.
Napster has no compelling reason for people to continue to supscribe. They paid their $15 a month. Now they can switch to Zune no problem. Napster doesn’t have exclusive content, so why stick with the rip off of the file sharing pioneer?
and with this news…amazingly…the stock is up 5%
Um, 26% year-over-year growth? That sounds pretty strong to me!
I wonder if Gorog regrets selling Roxio now?
“Um, 26% year-over-year growth? That sounds pretty strong to me!”
+26% is excluding University subscriptions. When you include everything, they’re down 7%
Napster reported a net loss of $9.8 million for the first fiscal quarter compared with a year-earlier loss of $19.9 million.
I bet Gorog and his cronnies have bought themselves all new million dollar houses and fancy cars though. The real reason for starting this venture.
Why would Apple turn down a profitable revenue source?
If Gorog manages to sell Napster, he and all his cronnies would avoid the wrath of the investors wanting to strip him of everything he’s got.
Seriously,
I thought they already went out of business.
Napster, that is sooooo 90’s
He gives a bad name to palindromes. Semordnilap ot enam dab a sevig, eh?
He gives a bad name to palindromes. Semordnilap ot enam dab a sevig, eh?
If you say so. Os yas uoy fi.
I hear Microsoft is looking to start an on-line music store. Hey, Gorog, time to put out the garage sale sign.
I wonder how those “4000” University subscriptions are calculated? Is that per student, or something bigger. Given that, for example, Penn State has “free” Napster for all of its students (more than 30,000), how does that 4000 figure tally?
If its the number of students *actually using* it, I would understand!
You peeps are lazy!
Zale RA’s peep u. Oy!
And I believe we find out today how Gateway are doing in their mission to turn a lot of money into significantly less money.
Why am I interested? Because Gateway is the manufacturer immediately above Apple in the US sales chart.
Some Napster slogans:
Napster – We’re losing less money all the time
Napster – We’re so popular, we’ve decided to make it free
Napster – We still have some money left, come merge with us
Sell the company? All they have of value is the name, and they have reduced the value of that consdiderabley.
Maybe “Napster” could be the name of a new brand of baby nappies (diapers to you Yanks).
Gorog business plan to make one billion dollars:
First, start with two billion. Then…
“…the number of paid subscribers grew 26 percent year-over-year.”
This is not good news when each customer costs you more to acquire than they will pay in a year of subscribing.
speaking with limited use of articles: “Gorog business plan to make one billion dollars:
First, start with two billion. Then…”
Funny! It also sounds like the U.S. Congress. Just multiply by 1000.
I’ve been predicting that the story of Napster would end with their sale ever since the sorry plight of their finances became evident a year or two ago.
However, I gotta wonder how much they’re worth these days. I think the “value” of the Napster name has pretty much expired. Younger consumers probably don’t even remember the original Napster all that well. And with the Zune service on the way, non-iTMS music stores are looking like a bad investment.
Napster is not profitable and doesn’t work and Apple’s iTunes is totally profitable and does work. I seriously doubt Apple would want to buy a non-working model but would rather see them just disappear.
“Napster is not profitable and doesn’t work”
Which is exactly why MS will buy them. Why stop a trend?
Wow “promoting a new free Web site “
Get that folks, a FREE Web site. People are going to line up for this one all right *rolling eyes*