Remember Rock Band? It Just Cost Viacom Another $383 Million In Losses…

All that plastic was supposed to save the music industry! Instead, it’s now melting down the balance sheets of companies like Viacom…

According to financial details just shared, the ill-fated acquisition of Rock Band creator Harmonix Music Systems cost the media conglom another $383 million last quarter. That in turn contributed to a 65 percent decline in net income for the period (complete SEC financial filing here). Viacom still reported profits of $212 million, and broader advertising revenues were also softer during the period.

But wait: isn’t this game cooked, at least as far as Viacom is concerned? After all, the acquisition was ‘handed back’ in 2010, after a 2009 meltdown in rhythmic gaming that featured too many titles, the Great Recession, and bored gamers.

Well, the answer is ‘not exactly,’ thanks to some heavy corporate acquisition baggage. This is another long story, though after selling the company back to its founders, Viacom was successfully sued for not paying on certain performance benchmarks.

Viacom is appealing the charge, though they’ve preemptively categorized the charge as a loss.

Source: Digital Music