Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tunica Albuginea who wrote (26412)	7/22/1999 5:16:00 AM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

THE NEWS IS POSITIVE....Braverman said that investors might be concerned that America Online added 755,000 subscribers to its flagship service in the quarter; some analysts had expected faster growth. The company ended the quarter with 17.6 million subscribers, up 5.1 million from a year earlier. He argued that this was less important for America Online than it would have been in the past because it has so many offerings, including Netscape and Compuserve. "They have 15 fronts that are all doing well," he said. Excluding one-time charges relating to merger costs and tax breaks, the company calculated its operating earnings at $156 million. That translated to 13 cents a share, above the 11 cents analysts had expected. The company posted operating earnings of 5 cents a share a year earlier. Revenue increased by $1.4 billion, up 46 percent over the 1998 quarter. Of that, advertising and merchandise sales represented $306 million, up 86 percent. Revenue from software sold to companies, mainly from the Netscape subsidiary, was $128 million. America Online said that the Netscape software business, which is incorporated in a joint venture with Sun Microsystems, is doing better than it expected. "We expected some start-up issues," said Steve Case, the company's chairman. "But we've been pleased that the team has gelled and customers have responded with more urgency than we had expected." Wednesday, America Online said that the joint venture would be renamed iPlanet. As the weather gets better, use declines. Subscribers used the service an average of 52 minutes a day in the quarter, down from 55 minutes on line in the quarter ending in March but up from 46 minutes last year. Membership in CompuServe remained around two million, where it has been for the last few years, despite an advertising campaign to promote its price cut and new software. The company said it was too soon to measure the response to its recent promotions offering rebates up to $400.