They don’t claim to have struck the mother lode, but MiningCo.com executives (Nasdaq: MINE) were optimistic Wednesday, when they announced that first quarter revenues reached $2.4 million (US$). This represents a 15-fold increase over its 1998 first-quarter figures, and a 10% increase over 1998 fourth-quarter figures.
However, the company also announced a proforma net loss of $11.9 million, for the quarter. Operating expenses of $8.4 million far exceeded revenues. Some $5.2 million was directed towards sales and marketing costs and an additional $1.9 million was assigned to administrative costs.
Cash and short-term investments totaled $85 million, bouyed mainly by Mining Co.com’s $81 million initial public offering in March 1999. Company shares on Nasdaq slipped nearly 6% Tuesday, closing at 55.875.
In its financial statement, MiningCo.com also said it had issued 200,000 shares of common stock to over 600 of its expert guides in its March IPO. One of the features of the news, entertainment and information service it provides are the expert guides, whose portraits squat strategically above the links to their field of expertise.
First-Quarter Achievements
Like any successful miner, Scott Kurnit, the company’s chairman and CEO, was able to sift through the dirt to find the nuggets. He pointed out a number of Q1 milestones in a press release issued Tuesday. Among them, he said, was the upgrade of the entire user interface network from 13 to 18 channels, the launch of the MiningCo.com Finance Center, expansion of its sales staff from nine to 24, the launch of a company-owned electronic card store and an agreement with broadcast.com to host the company’s live and on-demand radio programming, which is scheduled to start sometime in the second quarter.
The user numbers for MiningCo.com were certainly impressive. According to its press release, the company ranked 3rd among all news, information and entertainment sites and 23rd among all Web properties. Its unique visitors jumped 23% in March to 5.8 million, which it says represented the fastest-growing site in the Top 25 ranking. In addition, subscribers to the company’s online newsletters increased over 60% in the first quarter of 1999 to over 600,000.
MiningCo.com’s CEO was upbeat about the first quarter results and equally upbeat about the future. “With the expanded sales team in place, the IPO capital in the bank, a superior product and a refined marketing message, we are poised to deliver strong revenue results,” Kurnit added.
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