The company is struggling to break even before its cash pile runs out. It does not expect to make a cash profit until the end of 2003 at the earliest. It has funding facilities and cash reserves of £33.6m, down from £41m at the end of June, which it said would be enough to see it through.Mr Rose said the business was in good shape to deliver on the milestones it has set itself. He said: "QXL was a combination of different businesses and is now a streamlined company."From his newly created post as non-executive deputy chairman, Mr Rose will mastermind the company's overall strategy and its business alliances, while Mr Zaleski will run day-to-day operations.QXL expects the introduction of users fees to list their items for sale, in addition to commission fees on successful sales, to further drive revenues. It said fee structures represented more than 90 per cent of the gross auction value of goods for sale, which increased by 58 per cent to £51.6m..
At the Barbican Centre in London, they are preparing a film season that, in happier times, would have had the Walt Disney organisation dancing with joy. At the Barbican Centre in London, they are preparing a film season that, in happier times, would have had the Walt Disney organisation dancing with joy. A retrospective starting next month will feature all the Disney animations. Mickey, Minnie and Pluto are finally to be recognised, not just as inspired money-spinners, but as arthouse movies.But today, Disney is likely to be less interested in reminders of its golden age and the plaudits of cinema connoisseurs, than in the approval of the stock market.The Magic Kingdom is experiencing a sobering dose of reality. Yesterday, the Disney organisation announced a quarterly fall in profits of a staggering 82 per cent. Disney earned $63m (£43m) in the three months to the end of September, compared with $348m (£239m) during the same period last year.Much of the blame was rightly laid at the the change in the American business world and psyche since 11 September. Visiting Disney theme parks is no longer a priority for ordinary Americans or tourists. And the accelerated advertising recession has hit Disney's television interests, most notably its ABC network.In the case of ABC, the finger is also being pointed at the British game-show phenomenon Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, which has failed to do for ABC what it did for ITV.This was only one of a catalogue of misfortunes detailed yesterday by the Disney organisation The pain was spread across its many operations.
Attendance of Disney World fell 25 per cent; its studio entertainment division turned a $76m profit into a $121m loss (partly because of the delayed release of the movie Big Trouble, a Tim Allen comedy that had a scene with a bomb on an airplane); Disney's consumer division closed 100 of its shops.Michael Eisner, the chief executive of Disney, has earmarked ABC as "our most important point of focus right now". There will be changes to the prime-time schedule to boost ratings, with more "family-oriented" programmes.Urgent action is unavoidable. ABC's ratings in the television season that began in September have fallen to fourth among the big four networks, from second place last year. Investors faulted ABC for relying too heavily on the Millionaire game show, which ran four nights a week last year.Millionaire has fallen to 47th place in the ratings of prime-time shows, from third place last year, and Disney hasn't introduced any new hits."They bet the farm on Millionaire," said Nicholas Truitt, an analyst at the American company Strong Capital Management Inc, which sold the last of its Disney shares in September. "They definitely overplayed their hand."Certainly not all of Disney's woes can be laid at terrorism's door. While 11 September undoubtedly aggravated Disney's problems, there have been worrying undercurrents for some time.
