To All: Fresh from the Reuters wires
CMGI posts loss wider than the consensus BCAUSE of charge for I/PRO acquisition
Reuters Story - June 10, 1999 20:44
ANDOVER, Mass., June 10 (Reuters) - Internet venture firm CMGI Inc. on Thursday posted
a net loss of nearly $28 million for its fiscal third quarter as investment gains were offset by a
charge tied to an acquisition during the quarter.
For the fiscal third quarter ended in April, the company reported a net loss of $27.8 million, or
30 cents per diluted share, compared with a net profit of $13 million, or 14 cents per share in
the quarter ended April 1998.
The reported loss was wider than the published consensus estimate of Wall Street analysts,
which was for a loss of 13 cents per share, but the comparisons are typically muddied by
divergences over when to include some of CMGI's investment gains.
Revenues for the quarter were $43.7 million up from $18.1 million reported in the same quarter
last year, fueled by growth in the company's Internet investment business and to a lesser degree
by its marketing fulfillments services unit.
The latest quarter's results included a pre-tax gain of $859,000 from its holdings in GeoCities,
the Internet community site that was acquired by Yahoo! Inc. in late May, after CMGI's quarter
closed.
These results were weighed down by a one-time charge of $4.5 million for writing off research
and development costs of Internet advertising firm Internet Profiles Corp. (I/PRO), which it
acquired during the period.
CMGI's third quarter operating expenses for continuing operations of $77.7 million, reflect a 29
percent increase from the second quarter ended in January 1999 and an 87 percent increase
from the year-ago third quarter results. CMGI hired an investment bank during the period to
help wage a successful battle against the merger of Lycos Inc., its largest investment, into
broadcaster and electronic commerce company USA Networks Inc. |
