Marketwatch.com, the Net-based financial news service, said traffic surged in the fourth quarter of last year, but it still spent more money than it made. It was the company's first earnings report since going public with a splash last month.
The company said revenue was US$2.5 million for the fourth quarter, a gain of 41 percent from the third quarter. Net losses amounted to $4.2 million, or 47 cents per share, the company said after markets closed Wednesday.
On Thursday, Marketwatch and America Online subsidiary CompuServe launched the Financial News Center, a CompuServe site that will use Marketwatch content.
Marketwatch was (MKTW) valued at well over $1 billion following its 15 January stock offering.
The company said a "significant portion" of the losses came in non-cash charges to pay for network advertising and promotion contributed by its venture partner, television network CBS.
The company did report a surge in traffic to its Web site. It claimed 160 million page views in the fourth quarter, a 29 percent jump from the third quarter. Unique visitors increased 35 percent to 2.3 million.
President and CEO Larry Kramer said traffic was driven to the site by promotions with CBS and a strategic relationship with Yahoo. A new deal with Intuit Inc. is also expected to boost activity, he said.
Kramer also attributed some of the growth to the rapidly increasing use of Internet stock trading and personal finance. "We believe this trend will continue and that we are well positioned as a leading destination for information needed by that audience," Kramer said.
Copyright© 1999 Reuters Limited.
