Under Coinstar, Redbox has Q2 sales of $58 million

Kiosk company doubled machines in past year

By Danny King -- Video Business, 7/31/2008 7:40:00 PM

JULY 31 | Redbox had sales of $57.8 million during the first full quarter coin-exchange machine vendor Coinstar had majority ownership of the rental kiosk operator.

Redbox had second-quarter earnings, excluding some items, of $11.5 million, majority owner Coinstar reported today. The company also more than doubled its kiosks to 9,600 from 4,300 a year earlier.

Redbox said in May that it would file a prospectus by the end of last month for a planned public offering but delayed that process after the stock markets had their worst second quarter in six years.

The company, whose investors also include McDonald’s, had looked to take advantage of its leadership position in a kiosk industry predicted to surge as movie-rental chain stores cut units. Following the announced IPO, Redbox hired former JetBlue Airways chief financial officer John Harvey as its financial chief.

Coinstar, which had split 95% of Redbox’s ownership with McDonald’s, in January paid $5.1 million to boost its stake to 51% from 47.3%, valuing Redbox at about $140 million.

Redbox in February announced agreements with Walgreens and Wal-Mart that will bring its kiosk total to more than 11,000 by the end of next year. The company’s next-largest competitor, closely held The New Release, had about 2,100 North American kiosks as of February and planned to add another 1,000 machines by the end of the year.