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To: Techplayer who wrote (9010)	10/23/2002 5:14:36 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Respond to of 57110

marketwatch.com AOL tops profit, restates revenues By Jon Friedman, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 4:54 PM ET Oct. 23, 2002 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- AOL Time Warner disclosed Wednesday that an internal review of its accounting practices found that the company's AOL division overstated revenue by $190 million over the last two years. The findings of the review, which parallels an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, came as the company also posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter of 2002. AOL also said it will restate its financial results for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2000, and the ensuing quarters through last June 30. The restatement stems from a previously announced internal review of certain advertising and commerce transactions that came into question earlier this year. In January 2000, America Online agreed to merge with Time Warner. The deal was consummated a year later. Additionally, AOL said pretax cash flow for the period under review was overstated by $97 million. Chief Executive Richard Parsons said the restatement won't affect the company's liquidity position, which includes more than $8 billion of cash and unused bank credit. "Even though the total amount of the restatement represents a small portion of America Online's total revenues during the period, we have taken, and do take, this matter very seriously," Parsons said in a statement issued after the markets closed. "We have devoted a significant amount of time and resources to our review and, based on the substantial work we have done to date, do not expect any further restatements from it." Shares of AOL (AOL: news, chart, profile) jumped as high as $14.35 in after-hours trading on the Island ECN. In the regular session, the stock closed up 3 cents to $13.53. In its latest quarterly report, AOL Time Warner, the world's largest media and Internet company, said it earned 19 cents a share vs. 24 cents a share in last year's third quarter. Revenue rose by 6 percent to $10 billion. AOL was expected to earn about $772 million, or 18 cents a share, according to a poll of securities analysts taken by Thomson First Call. The same forecast also called for AOL to have revenue of $9.98 billion, up from $9.32 billion. Even before the questions about the accounting issues at the AOL division, the company has been dogged by investor concerns over the slowing growth at its online unit. Last week, America Online rolled out its 8.0 software program.