GAAP net revenue for the fourth quarter was $860 million, down $267 million as compared with $1.13 billion for the prior year. During the quarter, EA had a net benefit of $251 million related to the recognition of deferred net revenue for certain online-enabled packaged goods games and digital content.
Non-GAAP net revenue was $609 million, as compared with $919 million for the prior year. Sales were driven by Skate 2, Rock Band 2, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, Left 4 Dead and Need for Speed Undercover.
GAAP net loss for the quarter was $42 million, as compared with a net loss of $94 million for the prior year. Diluted loss per share was $0.13 as compared with diluted loss per share of $0.30 for the prior year.
Non-GAAP net loss was $120 million as compared with non-GAAP net income of $30 million a year ago. Non-GAAP diluted loss per share was $0.37 as compared with non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.09 for the prior year.
"EA's strong cost actions in Q4 FY09 together with our investments in our digital service businesses will set us up for a stronger FY10," said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer. "EA is well positioned with the right strategies in a growing industry."
"We remain vigilant on managing costs," said Eric Brown, Chief Financial Officer. "We are confirming our FY10 non-GAAP guidance and expect to show strong profit growth in the year ahead."
GAAP net revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 was $4.212 billion, up 15 percent as compared with $3.665 billion for the prior year. The Company ended the year with $261 million in deferred net revenue from packaged goods and digital content - down $126M from a year ago.
Non-GAAP net revenue was $4.086 billion, up 2 percent as compared with $4.020 billion for the prior year.
GAAP net loss for the year was $1.088 billion as compared with a net loss of $454 million for the prior year. Diluted loss per share was $3.40 as compared with a diluted loss per share of $1.45 for the prior year. Fiscal 2009 GAAP results include a $368 million non-cash charge for goodwill impairment and a non-cash charge for tax valuation allowances consisting of $232 million related to deferred tax assets that existed as of the end of Fiscal 2008 plus an additional $134 million against deferred tax assets recorded during Fiscal 2009.
Non-GAAP net loss was $96 million as compared with net income of $339 million a year ago. Non-GAAP diluted loss per share was $0.30 as compared with diluted earnings per share of $1.06 for the prior year.
Trailing-twelve-month operating cash flow was $12 million as compared with $338 million a year ago. The Company ended the year with cash and short-term investments of $2.2 billion.
Fiscal 2009 Highlights
- EA had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies in the year - as compared with 27 titles in the prior year.
- FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09 and Need for Speed Undercover each sold over five million copies in the year.
- EA Partners posted its strongest year ever driven by Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead. Rock Band, in partnership with MTX/Harmonix, was EA's highest revenue producing title during the fiscal year.
- EA strengthened its portfolio by launching new games - SPORE, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Boom Blox, Mercenaries 2 and a slate of Hasbro games.
- SPORE sold over two million copies with users generating more than 100 million creatures.
- EA generated 14% of its total non-GAAP revenue on the Wii - as compared with 8% a year ago. EA to ship EA SPORTS Active in May and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in June. Also in June, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 and EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis - both bundled with the Wii MotionPlus accessory (Tennis bundle available in Europe only).
- EA's non-GAAP digital services revenue, which includes online and wireless, was $429 million in fiscal 2009, up 27% year-over-year.
- Pogo achieved an all-time high of 1.8M paying subscribers for the fiscal year.
- EA recently launched the open beta of EA SPORTS FIFA Online 2 in China --the Company's first online game in China.
- EA Mobile, the world's leading publisher of games for wireless, delivered non-GAAP revenue of $189 million for fiscal 2009 - up 24 percent year-over-year.
The following forward-looking statements, as well as those made above, reflect expectations as of May 5, 2009. Results may be materially different and are affected by many factors, including: development delays on EA's products; competition in the industry; the health of the economy in the U.S. and abroad and the related impact on discretionary consumer spending; changes in anticipated costs; expected savings and impact on EA's operations of the Company's cost reduction plan; consumer demand for console hardware and the ability of the console manufacturers to produce an adequate supply of consoles to meet that demand; changes in foreign exchange rates; the financial impact of potential future acquisitions by EA; the popular appeal of EA's products; EA's effective tax rate; and other factors detailed in this release and in EA's annual and quarterly SEC filings.
Deferred Revenue Recognition for Online-Enabled Games
The Company also announced today that, beginning in fiscal 2010, it will defer revenue on a GAAP-only basis for every online-enabled game. Historically, the Company was deferring revenue for a subset of console and PC games. As a result, the Company expects to defer an additional $500 million of revenue out of fiscal 2010 into fiscal 2011 on a GAAP basis. This change will impact the Company's previously provided GAAP guidance for fiscal 2010, but will have no impact on fiscal 2010 non-GAAP revenue, non-GAAP EPS or cash flows.
The Company confirmed its fiscal year 2010 non-GAAP guidance and updated its fiscal 2010 GAAP guidance for the additional revenue deferral for online-enabled games.
- GAAP net revenue is expected to be between $3.7 and $3.85 billion.
- Non-GAAP net revenue is expected to be approximately $4.3 billion.
- GAAP diluted loss per share is expected to be between $0.85 and $1.45.
- Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share are expected to be approximately $1.00.
- For purposes of calculating fiscal year 2010 GAAP loss per share, the Company estimates a share count of 323 million and for non-GAAP EPS, the Company estimates a share count of 325 million.
- Expected non-GAAP net income excludes the following items from expected GAAP net income:
- $450 to $600 million for the impact of the change in deferred net revenue (packaged goods and digital content),
- $185 million of estimated stock-based compensation,
- $55 million of amortization of intangible assets,
- $25 to $35 million of restructuring charges, and
- ($82) to ($117) million in the difference between the Company's GAAP and non-GAAP tax expenses.