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CHICAGO (AFX) -- Media and entertainment stocks closed lower Tuesday, on the heels of a three-session losing streak for the sector.
Pixar Animation Studios said after the market closed that its quarterly profit declined sharply from prior-year results, which were bolstered by box-office receipts from its hit movie "The Incredibles" and DVD sales of "Finding Nemo."
Tuesday's report probably will be Pixar's last as a publicly-traded entity. In January, Walt Disney Co. , its long-time distribution partner, agreed to acquire the company for $7.4 billion in stock and cash.
In Tuesday's regular session, Pixar shares closed at $64.03, up 22 cents. It edged up to $64.30 in after-hours trading.
Newspaper stocks again lost ground, if marginally.
Knight Ridder rose $1.07, or 2%, to $62.27 after the Los Angeles Times reported that two private investment firms are backing away from serious bidding for the company, which put itself on the block last November.
A consortium that includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Blackstone Group and Providence Equity Partners is "unlikely" to offer much more than Knight Ridder's current share price, the Times said. The same's true of another group made up of Bain Capital, Hellman & Friedman, Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners, the newspaper reported.
Apparently, the combination of Gannett Co. and privately held MediaNews Group remains interested, the Times said. McClatchy Co. is also a suitor, the report said.
On Thursday, the next round of bids for Knight Ridder is due, according to the Times report.
Among diversified entertainment stocks, Viacom fell 1.5% to $38.06, while CBS Corp. rose 1.6% to $24.36. Sony shed 1.8% to $45.52.
On the cable front, Cablevision Systems Corp.'s board of directors has given management the green light to prepare for implementation of a $3 billion special dividend, the company said in a Tuesday regulatory filing.
Cablevision had apparently scrapped the dividend in December, saying at the time that it had found "certain technical covenant violations" under a debt agreement carried by subsidiary CSC Holdings Inc. Cablevision's shares closed unchanged at $26.75 on Tuesday. This story was supplied by MarketWatch. For further information see
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