Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Kim Kardashian Game Maker Glu Mobile Beats Analyst Expectations

Glu will also acquire Racing Rivals maker Cie Games for $100 million.

San Francisco-based Glu Mobile, the studio behind free-to-play games Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores, beat Wall Street’s expectations in its second fiscal quarter.

Analysts had been expecting a loss of four cents per share and $34 million in non-GAAP revenue, while Glu turned in a two cent loss and $35 million in revenue. The Kardashian game has been a top-10 app on the iPhone charts in both downloads and revenue for more than a month, and has inspired some hilarious commentary online.

Glu also announced that it would acquire Cie Games, the maker of the racing game franchise Racing Rivals, for $100 million, $30 million of which will be in cash. It’s the largest acquisition in the company’s history, CEO Niccolo de Masi said during a call with investors.

Last quarter, the company acquired Diner Dash maker Playfirst for $12 million, and it plans to release a new Diner Dash game later this year. CFO Eric Ludwig said Playfirst is now fully integrated into Glu, and he expects the Cie Games acquisition to follow a similar path after it closes on August 15.

Glu has raised its forecast for the rest of the year, and is now predicting it will make more in the next two quarters than it did in all of last year. In total, it now expects to gross between $222 million and $232 million this year, ahead of Wall Street’s current average estimate of $184 million.

Despite those forecasts, the expected cost of the acquisition drove Glu shares down in after-hours trading. At the time of this writing, they were down 7.7 percent, or 53 cents, since the closing bell.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Future Perfect
The 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAIThe 5 most unhinged revelations from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Future Perfect

The Musk v. OpenAI trial is over. Here are the receipts.

By Sara Herschander
Politics
Data centers could actually be good for your hometownData centers could actually be good for your hometown
Politics

The case for the buildings America loves to hate.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
How to fall in love with humanity againHow to fall in love with humanity again
Future Perfect

Tech culture has made contempt for humanity feel enlightened. We can do better.

By Sigal Samuel
America, Actually
Inside the fight over America’s data centersInside the fight over America’s data centers
Podcast
America, Actually

“The ugliest thing I’ve ever seen”: How New Jersey residents feel about a data center in their backyard.

By Astead Herndon
Podcasts
Could you spot an AI-written book?Could you spot an AI-written book?
Podcast
Podcasts

An author set up an experiment to find out.

By Amina Al-Sadi and Noel King
Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram