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Time Warner reports $16bn loss

LEGO franchise partially offsets Warner Bros Filmed Entertainment's 2 per cent decline in revenue

LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman were named as offsetting losses for Warner Bros Filmed Entertainment division in Time-Warner's fourth quarter and end of year financial results for the period up to December 31, 2008.

The division, which houses its videogame, movie and TV businesses, reported a dip in revenues of 2 per cent for the financial year, representing USD 284 million, to USD 11.4 billion.

The company cited a reduced number of films, limp DVD sales, and the Writers Guild of America strike as the reason for the dip, however it pointed to its LEGO game franchises as having partially offset the declining revenue.

"These decreases were offset partially by growth in interactive videogames revenues, due primarily to the releases of LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman," the company explained in its report.

Time Warner as a whole reported USD 16 billion operating loss for 2008, compared with a profit of USD 8.9 billion in 2007, due to a USD 24.2 billion writedown of the value of assets.

"We're making progress at Time Warner toward our goals of becoming a more content-focused company and delivering increasing returns to our stockholders. Last year, our priorities were to rationalise our structure and improve our operating performance. Despite the challenging economic environment, we achieved most of what we set out to do. Moving into 2009, we intend to build on these accomplishments," said chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes.

"Operationally, we'll continue to improve the efficiency of our businesses while creating even more of the compelling content that's becoming increasingly valuable. Structurally, we'll complete the Time Warner Cable separation soon. At the same time, we'll strengthen our balance sheet, improve our strategic flexibility and return capital to our stockholders on a consistent basis. Through these steps, we expect to emerge from this downturn in an even stronger competitive position."

This news follows an earlier announcement that Warner Bros has acquired Snowblind Studios to strengthen its ongoing videogames concerns - a move which may be all the more welcome coming off the back of the LEGO franchise's performance.