Tuesday, February 3, 2009

RealNetworks Takes Charges, Halts Games Spinout

Seattle-based RealNetworks said Tuesday that it is taking a charge of between $227M to $249M, including impairment of goodwill, writing off deferred projects, and restructuring and job cuts. In addition, the firm said it is halting its efforts to create a separate games business, saying it has stopped working with outside advisors and stopped external spending on the transaction, due to "no visibility" into when it might actually be able to spin out the business.