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America Online Expects $567 Mln Gain From Sale of Excite Shares
America Online Expects $567 Mln Gain From Sale of Excite Shares
Dulles, Virginia, April 21 (Bloomberg) -- America Online Inc., the No. 1 Internet access service, expects a fiscal third- quarter pretax gain of $567 million from the sale of Excite Inc. shares, according to a regulatory filing.
AOL also said it's ''comfortable'' with analysts' estimates for profit from operations for the quarter ended March 31. The company is expected to earn 9 cents a share, the average forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.
The company sold its 9.5 percent stake in Excite, the No. 2 Internet search service, in January after Excite agreed to be acquired by AOL rival At Home Corp. AOL had started buying its Excite holdings for about $4 a share before the Internet directory's April 1996 initial public offering. At Home is a provider of high-speed Internet access to personal computers through cable-television lines.
Part of the gain comes from Excite shares that were sold by Netscape Communications Inc., the Internet software maker and World Wide Web site operator which AOL acquired in March for $10.2 billion. AOL also expects to take a pretax charge of $103 million in the third quarter for costs related to the purchase.
Dulles, Virginia-based AOL will report its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the close of U.S. markets.
The company also restated its earnings to include Netscape's results for the fiscal year ended in June and the six months ending in December.
AOL said the combined company earned $119 million, or 10 cents a share, for the fiscal second-quarter ended Dec. 31. The combined company had revenue of $1.15 billion for that period.
AOL said in January that it earned $88 million, or 17 cents a share, on a fully taxed basis for the second quarter, while revenue was $960 million.
America Online said the proceeds from the sale of Excite stock will increase its cash to $2.6 billion. Shares of AOL rose 14 1/16 to 142 3/4.
NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min.
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