Interplay Entertainment Corp

The Irvine computer game maker narrowed its loss in the second quarter to $1.9 million, or 6 cents a share, from $6.9 million, or 33 cents a share, for the second quarter of 1999. Revenue declined 15% to $24.9 million.

Vivendi Universal Games, a subsidiary of French entertainment conglomerate Vivendi Universal, has sued Interplay Entertainment Corp. for allegedly violating a contract that gives Vivendi exclusive rights to publish Interplay's games. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Irvine-based Interplay made "flagrant attempts to terminate VUG's exclusive rights" to publish its games. Neither Vivendi nor Interplay returned calls seeking comment.

Interplay Entertainment Corp.: The Irvine interactive entertainment software company said it lost $8.3 million, or 44 cents a share, for the first quarter, compared with net income of $2.8 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue declined 47% to $21.6 million from $41 million.

Broadcom Corp. named George Farinsky, a former chief financial officer of Mattel Inc., as its fifth director. The Irvine chip seller is no longer the only Standard & Poor's 500 Index company with four board members. Broadcom, the world's largest maker of cable-modem chips had five directors until Myron Eichen died in July at age 72. Farinsky, 67, has also served as CFO of software maker Ashton-Tate Corp. and U.S. operations president of the Bank of British Columbia.

Interplay Entertainment Corp., an Irvine developer of interactive entertainment software, said Monday that it is forming Interplay.com to address the interactive entertainment online market. The company said in a press release that Cal Morrell, former vice president of marketing for Interplay, will be president of Interplay.com. The parent company said its new Internet effort targets interactive entertainment enthusiasts. Interplay.

Interplay Entertainment Corp., an Irvine video game maker, said it lost $7.8 million, or 29 cents a share, for the fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $16.6 million, or 91 cents a share, for the 1998 fourth quarter. Revenue increased 33% to $27.3 million. For the year, the company lost $40 million, or $1.78 a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $28.2 million, or $1.91 a share. Revenue declined 20% to $101.9 million.

Computer game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp. said it earned $691,000, or 6 cents a share, for the second fiscal quarter, its first as a publicly traded company. For the same period last year, the Irvine company incurred a net loss of $10 million, or 90 cents a share. Revenue nearly doubled to $40.7 million from $20.5 million. The company noted that it released nine new products during the recent three-month period. Net income for the six months was $3.

The National Assn. of Securities Dealers notified Irvine computer game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp. that it does not meet certain criteria to maintain future listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The software publisher disputes the decision, and says it will appeal the NASD's notice at a hearing June 22. The news does not mean that the financially troubled company's stock will be delisted, analysts said. Interplay recently reported a net loss of $5.

Video game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp., now controlled by a French company, said Monday that delays and failures to release any major titles this year has helped push its second-quarter loss to $12.4 million, or 34 cents a share. In the second quarter of last year, the Irvine firm, 51.5% owned by Titus Interactive SA, lost $1.9 million, or 7 cents a share. It has lost money in 10 of the past 11 quarters.

Video game publisher Interplay Entertainment Corp., which in May announced talks with a potential buyer, is expected today to unveil substantial changes to its board of directors and an overhaul of its senior management. The restructuring of the Irvine maker of titles such as "Baldur's Gate" comes weeks after French game publisher Titus Interactive increased its ownership of Interplay to a controlling 51% from 34%.

The French company that owns unprofitable video-game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp. said Monday it has granted exclusive rights to sell the Irvine company's new games to Vivendi Universal SA so that Interplay can focus on game creation. Titus Interactive, which owns 51.5% of Interplay, said the unit will probably save about $10 million a year as a result of the contract, which will allow it to trim marketing and distribution expenses.

The big investment that a French video game maker made in money-losing Interplay Entertainment Corp. in Irvine is hurting its earnings. Titus Interactive said a first-half loss at Interplay will significantly affect earnings for its fiscal year, which ended June 30, and that the company probably won't post a profit until the end of the its fiscal year next June. Shares of Titus, which owns 51.5% of Interplay, have lost 58% of their value this year in the Paris stock market.

Video game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp., now controlled by a French company, said Monday that delays and failures to release any major titles this year has helped push its second-quarter loss to $12.4 million, or 34 cents a share. In the second quarter of last year, the Irvine firm, 51.5% owned by Titus Interactive SA, lost $1.9 million, or 7 cents a share. It has lost money in 10 of the past 11 quarters.

Titus Interactive SA, a French video-game maker, said Thursday it gained majority control of Irvine-based video-game publisher Interplay Entertainment Corp. by raising its stake in the U.S. company to 51.5%. Titus boosted its 49.6% stake in Interplay on Monday after converting 336,000 bonds into 6.7-million shares. It now holds 27-million shares of Interplay as well as 383,354 more convertible bonds. Interplay has lost money in nine out of the last 10 quarters.

French video-games maker Titus Interactive SA said Tuesday it has initiated talks to sell its 34% stake in Interplay Entertainment Corp., the Irvine software game maker now in talks to be sold. Titus said in a press release that its retail subsidiary Virgin Interactive will continue to distribute Interplay products in Europe. In the U.S., distribution has been assured for the past weeks by Titus' own local teams. The Paris company, which lost $23.

Amid a rapid industry consolidation, software game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp. said Tuesday that it is in talks with a suitor about the possible purchase of the company. Interplay, a money-losing company that got a shot in the arm early this month with a $5-million loan from Microsoft Corp., would not identify the potential buyer and cautioned that a deal is not certain.

Microsoft Corp. has released a patch to fix a security flaw that could allow a hacker to gain complete control, in a matter of seconds, of a Web site running Windows 2000 Internet server software. The security flaw was discovered about two weeks ago in the software's Internet printing component by EEye Digital Security Inc. of Aliso Viejo while the company was testing the latest version of its security scanning software.