FXRE FX Real Est And Ent (MM)

NEW YORK, May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CKX, Inc. (NASDAQ:CKXE), today filed its quarterly report for the three months ended March 31, 2008, reporting revenue of $65.2 million, and OIBDAN (operating income before depreciation, amortization and non-cash compensation), excluding costs related to the distribution of common stock of FX Real Estate and Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:FXRE) and the proposed merger with 19X, Inc., of $26.6 million. For the quarter ended March 31, 2007, CKX reported revenue and OIBDAN of $49.6 million and $14.0 million, respectively. The increases in revenue and OIBDAN in the quarter ended March 31, 2008, reflects strong growth at the Company's American Idol, Elvis Presley and Beckham businesses. The results do not include any amounts from the licensing arrangement between the Company's Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali businesses and FX Real Estate and Entertainment. The Company received the initial minimum annual license fee payment attributable to 2007 of $10 million from FXRE in April 2008. The Company considers OIBDAN to be an important indicator of the operational strengths and performance of its businesses and the critical measure the chief operating decision maker (CEO) uses to manage and evaluate its businesses, including the ability to provide cash flows to service debt. However, a limitation of the use of OIBDAN as a performance measure is that it does not reflect the periodic costs of certain capitalized tangible and intangible assets used in generating revenue in our businesses or stock-based compensation expense. Accordingly, OIBDAN should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for, operating income (loss), net income (loss) and other measures of financial performance reported in accordance with US GAAP as OIBDAN is not a GAAP equivalent measurement. About CKX, Inc. CKX, Inc. is engaged in the ownership, development and commercial utilization of entertainment content. To date, the Company has focused on acquiring globally recognized entertainment content and related assets, including the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley, the operations of Graceland, the rights to the name, image and likeness of Muhammad Ali and proprietary rights to the IDOLS television brand, including the American Idol series in the United States and local adaptations of the IDOLS television show format which, collectively, air in over 100 countries around the world. On June 1, 2007, CKX entered into a merger agreement with 19X, Inc., a private company owned and controlled by Mr. Sillerman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CKX, and Simon R. Fuller, a director of CKX and the Chief Executive Officer of 19 Entertainment Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CKX, that will result in the sale of CKX to 19X. For more information about CKX, Inc., visit its corporate website at http://www.ckx.com/. DATASOURCE: CKX, Inc. CONTACT: Sean Cassidy, +1-212-981-5233, or Ed Tagliaferri, +1-212-981-5182, both for CKX Web site: http://www.ckx.com/

Copyright