Broderbund Shares Fall on Riven Fears

Broderbund Software Inc. shares fell more than 15% after its latest earnings report raised concern that the software company is too reliant on its new Riven game. Broderbund shares fell $5.25 to close at $28.50 on Nasdaq. The company on Wednesday reported stronger-than-expected earnings, though most of the gains were from its Riven fantasy game. Sales of educational software fell 12%, making Riven sales more important to Broderbund’s future, analysts said. In its earnings report, Novato-based Broderbund said it sold 1.2 million units of Riven to distributors in its fiscal first quarter. Of those, only 450,000 copies were sold to consumers, leaving plentiful inventories. Broderbund said net income for the period ended Nov. 30 rose to $10.6 million, or 49 cents a share, from $8.9 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Per-share earnings exceeded 45 cents, the average estimate of analysts.