Barcelona-headquartered internet firm Terra Lycos cut losses by 57% in its first quarter despite a slump in revenue.
Lycos – which operates websites across Europe, Asia, North and South America – reported a net deficit of €55.7 million ($63.7m; £39.7m), a vast improvement on the €130.2m loss in Q1 2002.
Revenues, however, tumbled from €160.6m to €114.8m, a drop the company blamed on currency fluctuations plus the introduction of an alliance with Telefónica in place of a big-money ad deal with Bertelsmann [WAMN: 04-Nov-02]. EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) improved from a €40.8m loss to a shortfall of €15.2m.
Like many internet firms, Lycos has been trying to replace its ad-dependent business model with income from paid-for content and services.
It seems to be having some success: communication, portal and content revenues jumped from €9.4m in Q1 last year to €30.6m, rising from 6% of the total to 27%. Advertising and e-commerce revenues, however, tumbled from €75.1m to €20.8m.
Data sourced from: Terra Lycos; additional content by WARC staff
