Warner Music posts wider loss

Warner Music Group Corp. said Tuesday that its fiscal third-quarter loss widened as more people bought digital music rather than CDs.

The loss for the quarter ended in June was $17 million, or 12 cents a share, compared with a loss of $14 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier. Excluding nonrecurring items related to a corporate restructuring and settlement, the loss in the 2007 quarter was $29 million, or 20 cents a share.

Revenue declined 2% to $804 million. On a constant-currency basis, revenue fell 5%.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a loss of 14 cents a share on revenue of $836 million.

Warner Music shares fell $1.14, or 10%, to $9.89 on Tuesday.

“This proved to be a more challenging quarter industrywide,” Warner Music Chairman and Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman Jr. said.

The New York-based company said digital revenue increased to $119 million, or 15% of revenue, in the quarter. That is up 29% from $92 million a year earlier.

Revenue from recorded music worldwide fell 4% to $653 million.

Domestic recorded music sales declined 1% to $345 million, while international recorded music sales fell 7% to $308 million.