Lycos Revenues Jump 166 Percent
Internet search engine company Lycos reported a narrower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter loss and a big jump in revenue. Shares, however, fell on Friday after the stock rose during the week in anticipation of its earnings' report.
Lycos reported a loss of $2.6 million, or 6 cents per share, excluding merger-related expenses and other charges, vs. a profit of $107,480, or 1 cent per share a year ago. The First Call consensus estimate was a loss of 7 cents per share. Including charges, the net loss per share for the quarter was 35 cents.
Revenue jumped 166 percent to $24.8 million from $9.3 million a year ago. In addition, user traffic to Lycos's network, the second most popular hub on the Internet, rose to 36 million page views per day in October, an increase of 51 percent from 24 million page views per day in July."We are extremely pleased with the progress we made this quarter," said Robert Davis, Lycos president and CEO, in a statement. Revenue grew "through a combination of internal growth and a series of strategic acquisitions," Davis said.
Lycos acquired WhoWhere? in August, a service which offers online directory services and supports the Web community Angelfire. The acquisition boosted Lycos' number of registered members to over 5 million.
Lycos also signed a $22.5 million agreement with Fleet Bank in October to allow users to apply for a credit card bearing the Lycos brand.
Moreover, Lycos announced Thursday morning that online designer outlet Bluefly will be its premier commerce vendor.
Written By Khanh T.L. Tran