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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (15319)	12/27/1999 3:33:00 PM
From: baystock	Respond to of 28311

These accounting abuses of the Internet companies are similar to their S&P counterparts; they are only employed to a more extreme degree in the case of the former. What are of greater interest are the accounting abuses peculiar to this sector. It is widely recognized that Amazon.com reports something called "pro forma" accounting results rather than results based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). As a consequence, it reports to shareholders and the media a loss which is far less than the loss it reports to the SEC. What is amazing is that virtually all Internet companies now report so-called "pro forma" results and that in many cases these pro forma results turn large losses into profits. To quote Inferential Focus again: "In May when Go2Net, Inc., reported its earnings, the company issued public statements on its Web site and elsewhere saying that it had enjoyed a profitable second quarter and had 'pro forma net income of $0.07 per share'. But at the bottom of its public announcement, in small print, the company admitted: '[These financial statements] do not purport to be financial statements prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles [GAAP].' Given that the Securities and Exchange Commission requires the use of GAAP, skeptical observers were not surprised to learn that in the official SEC filings, Go2Net admitted that in actuality it had suffered a second-quarter loss equal to $52 million." lemetropolecafe.com