IVillage CEO Says Gains Show Movement To
Profitability
NEW YORK -- IVillage Inc.'s (IVIL) better-than-expected fourth-quarter results demonstrate the
company is moving toward profitability, said Chief Executive Candice Carpenter.
"I think we're getting the kind of leverage you expect to see as a media company scales," said
Carpenter in a CNBC interview from Davos, Switzerland where an international economic
conference is underway.
"We saw a big improvement on our gross margin line, and we saw our EBITDA losses begin to
turn around."
IVillage, a women-oriented Web site company, lost $29.9 million, or $1.04 a share, for the fourth
quarter, beating the First Call/Thomson Financial consensus estimate of a loss of $1.24 a share. In
the year-ago period, IVillage lost $11.2 million, or $5.31 per share.
The company also moved EBITDA positive date forward to the middle of 2001, said Carpenter.
Asked if IVillage needs to do a deal with a bigger media company in light of deals like the merger
between America Online Inc. (AOL) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX), Carpenter said partnerships
with AOL and NBC suffice for now.
"We have over $100 million in cash and are on a straight line to profitability, so I think we're not
feeling pressure to do something, but we're always looking for what might be really the right
connections and the right relationships." |
