The Oregonian, Portland, Ore., Business Briefs Column.(Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News)

Aug. 10-- HOLLYWOOD'S NET LOSS INCREASES: Hollywood Entertainment's second quarter earnings show why the company is shuttering the Internet sales it once heralded at the company's Reel.com subsidiary.

On Wednesday, Wilsonville-based Hollywood -- the parent of Hollywood Video stores -- reported a net loss of $63.04 million, or $1.37 a share, on sales of $322.64 million for the quarter ended June 30. That compares with a net loss of $8.33 million, or 18 cents a share, on sales of $250.37 million in the year-ago quarter.

Hollywood's loss happened when a profit at its video rental stores was devoured by mounting debt at its Reel.com subsidiary. In the second quarter, Hollywood Video logged a profit of $6.5 million on sales of $310.66 million, compared with a profit of $9.4 million on sales of $241.98 million in the second quarter of 1999. But Reel.com lost $69.54 million on sales of $11.98 million in the just-ended quarter, a big drop from its net loss of $17.73 million on sales of $8.39 million last year.

But, $48.55 million of Reel.com's loss comes from a one-time charge Hollywood took to cover the costs of shutting down the subsidiary's Web-sales operation. Hollywood will still run the Reel.com Web site, but only as a marketing and information site. Mark Wattles, Hollywood chairman and chief executive officer, said that closing Reel.com will end a $5 million monthly cash drain and should make Hollywood a profitable company again.

WILSHIRE FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP: Wilshire Financial Services Group earned $1.125 million, or 6 cents a share, in its second quarter ended June 30.

In the same period a year ago, excluding extraordinary gain on the extinguishment of debt and restructuring costs from the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Wilshire Financial lost $5.5 million.

Wilshire Financial operates a Southern California thrift, it buys loans and residential mortgage-backed securities and it services sub-prime loans.

WAL-MART STORES: Wal-Mart Stores announced second-quarter results and said fiscal third-quarter profit will be less than analysts' forecasts as the world's largest retailer changes the way it accounts for goods bought on installment plans.

Second-quarter net income jumped 28 percent to $1.6 billion, or 36 cents a share, from $1.25 billion, or 28 cents a share, a year ago. Per-share profit matched the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Sales jumped 20 percent to $46.1 billion from $38.5 billion.

Wal-Mart dropped $4 to $53.63 on the New York Stock Exchange. Third-quarter profit will be about 31 cents a share, 2 cents below the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call. The shortfall will be made up in the fourth quarter, the company said.

Wal-Mart left its annual forecast unchanged. The average profit estimate of analysts for the year is $1.47 a share. Last year, Wal-Mart earned $5.38 billion, or $1.20 a share.

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