Electronic Arts Slashes 580 Jobs

Madden '09 Makes Huge Money

Electronic Arts in Redwood City, the world's largest video game maker, said it will become smaller, ridding itself of 580 jobs.

That's about 6 percent of its workforce.

Some of those jobs will be shipped overseas.

The company, which makes such hits including Madden football, said though it had to post a $310 million loss for the quarter, it remains optimistic about the growth of video games.

EA officials said their second-quarter net loss widened as development and marketing costs grew.

But revenue surpassed Wall Street's forecast thanks to games like "Spore" and "Madden NFL 09."

EA also lowered its full-year profit outlook range, though it kept its revenue forecast intact.

Electronic Arts said the $310 million was worth about 97 cents per share.

That was worse than the loss of $195 million, or 62 cents per share, a year earlier.
 
EA's sales jumped 40 percent to $894 million.

Excluding one-time items, EA says it lost 6 cents a share in the latest quarter, matching the expectation of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Adjusted sales, which exclude deferred revenue for some online games, were $1.13 billion, beating expectations for $1.08 billion.

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