DoubleClick Revs and Losses Climb

Ad network DoubleClick Inc. in New York posted third quarter revenues of $20.8 million, up from $8.2 million a year earlier, but its net loss jumped to $4.7 million, up from $2.1 million in the third quarter of 1997.

The net loss for the third quarter of 1998 was $0.28 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.19 per share in the same period a year earlier.

The company reported revenues of $51.0 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, a 160% increase over revenues of $19.7 million for the same period a year earlier. The net loss for the nine months was $13.8 million, or $0.88 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.40 per share, a year earlier.

“We are very pleased with this quarter’s results both from an operational and financial standpoint,” said Kevin O’Connor, CEO and co-founder of DoubleClick, in a statement. “Not only are we continuing to provide the best advertising solutions for Web publishers and advertisers, but we are translating our technology and relationships into strong financial results.

“This quarter was particularly notable because we increased our global presence through continued international expansion, added new inventory with highly branded sites, introduced a suite of new products collectively called, “Closed-Loop Marketing Solutions” and focused on making DART (Dynamic Ad Reporting and Targeting) the industry standard,” O’Connor said.

“Our rapid growth and strong financial performance has allowed us to reinvest the resources of the company in our business,” said Jeff Epstein, CFO of DoubleClick. “Going forward, we will continue to focus on strengthening our internal infrastructure, investing in new product development and expanding our international business presence, while remaining focused on our core business.”

Absent from the executives’ statements was any indication of when the company expects to put itself in the black.

Traffic continued its positive trend, the company said, delivering an average of 108 million ad impressions per day during September 1998 compared to 81 million ad impressions per day during June. In addition, the number of Web publishers serviced by the DART technology increased to 440, with 4,200 unique sites in the third quarter of 1998, an increase from 320 Web publishers with 2,900 unique sites in the second quarter.

DoubleClick stock closed at $18 3/16, up $1 3/16.