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| UPDATED: 2006-04-26 |
 CNET Down On Stock Expense 
By: David Utter 2006-04-26 Stock-based compensation expenses hit a number of financial reports for the first time this quarter; CNET Networks watched net income drop from $2.3 million to $1.1 million.  Investors continued to knock CNET (CNET) down after an otherwise improved set of first-quarter numbers for 2006 included those much talked about employee stock expenses.
Instead of swinging up to a modest earnings figure of a penny per share gain, the stock expense turned that into a penny per share loss. CNET did boost revenues by 17 percent to $83.4 million, and boosted free cash flow to $20 million from $4.4 million the same period last year. "Although we are seeing more impact from transitions in our endemic categories in the first half of the year than we originally expected, we also continue to expand our audience and customer base as we grow our core brands and add new ones, positioning us well for the growing opportunity in Internet advertising," said Shelby Bonnie, chairman and chief executive officer of CNET Networks. Investors seem to be sensing blood in the water instead of a treasure chest below the surface. Trading of CNET experienced heavy volume, 25.76 million shares, as the price dropped 2.55 to 10.72; it started the week at 13.78. While opportunity is growing for Internet advertising, Google has attracted it with paid search, followed by Yahoo. And Yahoo does very well at brand advertising and CPM ad placements, which CNET needs to help its bottom line. Elsewhere in online media, Jupitermedia (JUPM) hopes to match its electric fourth-quarter 2005 numbers when it reports first quarter financials on May 10th. CEO Alan Meckler has moved the company to emphasize its Jupiterimages division. Part of that shift saw Jupitermedia sell its ClickZ.com network and Search Engine Strategies conferences for $29.1 million. In March, the company sold its Jupiter Research; that became JupiterKagan Inc, a portfolio company of MCG Capital Corporation. News Corp (NWS.A) frequently finds coverage in the news itself, thanks to its popular and sometimes controversial MySpace social networking site. But MySpace found itself briefly relegated when Rupert Murdoch's Fox Interactive Media (FIM) in Los Angeles bought a stake in the SimplyHired job search aggregator site. MySpace quickly became the story again as more details of the investment became known. FIM president Ross Levinsohn spoke publicly in February about match classified listings to MySpace. WebProNews writer Jason Lee Miller picked up on a Hitwise report on why SimplyHired made a better choice for FIM than a competitor like Indeed.com: SimplyHired matches more of the hipster feel that Fox usually goes for, has shown strong growth in the past year against older competitors, would be a good fit for a large job-seeking captured demographic News Corp. found in MySpace, and provides a wedge into a market that will likely explode in the next few years.
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View All Articles by David Utter About the Author: David Utter is a staff writer for InternetFinancialNews and WebProNews covering technology and business. |
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