DoubleClick Narrows Its Per Share Loss

New York City-based DoubleClick Inc. said its quarterly net loss narrowed to 18 cents a share, including a relocation charge, versus a loss of 21 cents a share for the first quarter a year earlier.

The net loss for the first quarter, excluding the effect of non-recurring facility relocation charges, was $5.3 million, compared to a net loss of $4.4 million, for the first quarter of 1998. Revenues for the quarter rose to $22.1 million from $13 million a year ago.

DoubleClick Chief Financial Officer Jeffery Epstein told Reuters in a telephone interview he continues to see the number of ads placed online by DoubleClick doubling every six months. “We think we can do 20 billion ads by December, and 80 billion ads by December 2000.”

DoubleClick’s share price has gained more than 600 percent this year. Higher margins from DoubleClick’s DART (Dynamic Ad Reporting and Targeting) ad serving business increased the company’s gross profits 24 percent from a year ago, said Epstein.

In the fourth quarter, DoubleClick began offering a group of products designed to give Internet advertisers real-time measurement and analysis of online marketing campaigns. The company said it signed up 30 new customers in the first quarter, including Dell Computer.

DoubleClick also promoted several key executives. Epstein moves from CFO to executive vice president; Stephen Collins to chief financial officer; David Rosenblatt to vice president and general manager of Closed Loop Marketing; Chris Saridakis to vice president and general manager of DART; Laura Ianuly to vice president of human resources and Jonathan Shapiro to vice president of business development.