Dallas Blog

All week, Wall Street has been anxiously anticipating Blockbuster's first-quarter results, which were released moments ago. Analysts didn't expect good news from the Dallas-based company, whose efforts to reinvent itself we've documented at great length in recent months. And the news is indeed mixed, at best: From Elm Street HQ comes word that total revenue for the first quarter of '09 was $1.12 billion, compared to $1.39 billion for the same period one year ago. Says CEO Jim Keyes, "Our new financing, combined with our cost savings initiatives and additional cash availability, provides sufficient liquidity to continue our business transformation."

And while there's a whole bunch of info in the release concerning its the freedom accorded the company by a credit-line extension that comes due in the fall, this is among the more telling items buried amongst the numbers: "First quarter 2009 domestic same-store sales decreased 10.9 percent, compared to an increase of 2.9 percent in the same period in 2008."