Midway Q3 Losses Double, Executive Departures Continue

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Game publisher Midway is facing yet another setback: a reported loss of $75.9 million for the July-September quarter of 2008, a massive drop from the $33 million losses in Q3 2007.

Shari Redstone, daughter of media mogul Sumner Redstone, has resigned from her position as chairperson of the board, signaling another high-profile executive departure for the embattled publisher. She leaves to focus on National Amusements, the financially-troubled owner of Midway. At the end of 2007, Midway planned a revival through "fewer, bigger, better" games and greater personal involvement on the part of Redstone.

CEO Matt Booty has been confirmed as the company's chief executive going forward, after serving several months in an interim position.

The publisher's losses add to those of $30-million-plus losses in Q1 and Q2 of this year. Meanwhile, its workforce is set to be slashed by 10%, and massive layoffs at the company's Austin offices carried out in Q3 contributed to that goal.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter found that despite Midway's problems, the company may well survive and return to profitability. "Notwithstanding the continued restructuring theme and likely delay of a return to profitability by another year, we remain cautiously optimistic that Midway will perform better in 2009 than it is expected to perform in 2008," said Pachter in a Gamasutra report.

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    November 10, 2008 6:42 PM

    I love the screenshot that goes with this story.

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