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

To: MrGardener who wrote (4575)	4/23/1999 4:44:00 AM
From: jk28	Respond to of 28311

Posted at 12:58 p.m. PDT; Thursday, April 22, 1999 Go2Net posts rare profit in Internet industry by Helen Jung Seattle Times technology reporter Seattle-based Internet company Go2Net announced a pro forma profit of $1.1 million, or 7 cents a diluted share, for the second quarter ended March 31, surging past analysts' expectations of a 2-cent-a-share profit. Yesterday's announcement, beyond surpassing analysts' forecasts, is relatively novel in a business where "Internet" and "profit" are rarely used in the same sentence. Go2Net broke even in the previous quarter. The company, which runs a network of business, stock and entertainment Web sites, also announced a 2-for-1 stock split - the second this year. The split will cover shareholders of record as of May 17. The strong results and stock-split news, announced after the market closed yesterday, helped push Go2Net's stock up as much as $21.50 to $199 early today after a nearly $30 gain yesterday. But in late trading, it was down $8.50 to $169 - a combination of profit-taking and a weak day for tech stocks. Go2Net's pro forma results exclude the one-time charges associated with its deal with Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures, which is making a minimum $430 million investment in the company. Those charges bring the company's quarterly loss to $51.8 million, or $4.07 a diluted share. For the same quarter a year ago, Go2Net posted a loss of $193,861, or 2 cents a share. The company also announced sales of $4.3 million for the second quarter, up 180 percent from $1.5 million for the same period a year ago. For the six-month period, the company posted $6.9 million in sales, up 161 percent from the year-earlier $2.7 million, and $1.1 million in pro forma profit, compared with a pro forma loss of $431,110 for the 1998 period. The company will continue to make acquisitions of highly automated, low-cost Web sites through cash or stock deals, said Russell Horowitz, Go2Net's chief executive. But the Vulcan Ventures investment gives the company the muscle to speed up its expansion, he said. Go2Net is looking to deepen its offerings in the current categories, as well as enter a few new areas, Horowitz said. The Vulcan deal is expected to close in late May or early June. Analysts on a conference call congratulated Horowitz on the quarter. Go2Net surprised analysts by successfully increasing revenue without adding massive costs to its operation, said David Levy, an analyst with ING Baring Furman Selz in New York. "Definitely, it was an excellent quarter," he said. "We anticipate their growth to continue very strongly." Levy's company picked up coverage of Go2Net earlier this year, he said, believing the company to be undervalued compared with similar Internet companies. Go2Net also yesterday launched its redesigned HyperMart site, which provides free Web sites for more than 185,000 small and medium-size businesses. HyperMart also provides round-the-clock customer service and will later add the software needed for companies to do business over the Internet. Go2Net also plans to connect its new auction property, Haggle Online, with businesses in the HyperMart network. The company expects to relaunch other Go2Net sites as well as increase advertising and recognition of sites in the network which includes Silicon Investor, StockSite, PlaySite and MetaCrawler. Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company