CoolSavings Revenue Slips
Chicago-based online couponer CoolSavings reported lower-than-expected revenue.
The firm saw a pro forma loss of $6.4 million, or $0.16 per share, on revenue of $5.3 million. Last quarter, the firm had given revenue guidance of between $6.5 million and $7.5 million.
In the previous quarter CoolSavings took in revenue of $6.3 million, and posted a loss of $8.5 million, or $0.22 per share.
This quarter, the company also posted a $3.7 million one-time charge related to the forgiveness of notes receivable from directors, bringing the net loss to $10.2 million or $0.26 per share.
“The second quarter was a period of transition for the company. In addition to a difficult economy and a soft advertising market, it took longer than anticipated to raise capital, which constrained our ability to invest in marketing and keep current on our payables,” said chief executive and president Matthew Moog. “To best position the company for long-term growth and profitability, during the quarter we instituted a number of cost reduction measures that will substantially reduce our burn and improve free cash flow on more conservative revenue targets.”
Despite the decrease in revenues, the company did manage to find an investor, Norfolk, Va.-based media player Landmark Communications. Landmark promised up to $15 million in financing for the firm.
“Our ability to raise significant funds, from an investment partner with such a successful track record, and in this environment, is truly a testament to our business model and our future growth prospects,” Moog added. “The last few months have demonstrated that our business model can and will help us to prosper under unpredictable circumstances.”
The company said it anticipates next quarter’s revenues to come in at between $5 million and $5.5 million, and operating expenses of $7.3 million to $7.8 million.
CyberGold to Close Site
Incentive marketer MyPoints is closing its subsidiary, CyberGold, at the end of August.
The news comes just weeks after MyPoints was acquired by United Airlines’ online ventures unit.
According to sources at the company, MyPoints viewed CyberGold’s product as the least attractive of incentives — less important than its own Points incentives and UAL’s MileagePlus awards.
“We’re providing all these types of loyalty solutions,” said Adam Schneider, a vice president of sales at MyPoints. “You’ve got Points, mileage and then dollars — to us, it’s sort of the third rung of products.”
Schneider said that the company was still considering what to do with the CyberGold brand and its database of names.
Earlier this week, MyPoints announced a deal with e-Dialog to offer clients database merge-and-purge duties. The services hadn’t really been needed before the acquisition by UAL, according to Schneider. But following MyPoints’ purchase, the sheer volume of names in MyPoints and UAL’s combined databases could result in sizable overlap with clients’ own house files — necessitating the services of a merge-and-purge specialist, he said.
Ten Square in Jeopardy
Sources close to Dallas-based Ten Square say the company is in dire straits, having shuttered most of its operations.
The firm, which had investments from Chevron, BP and Marconi, launched in January with a plan to serve ads and coupons to Internet-enabled gas station pumps and ATMs. A deal with ValPak.com at the time aimed to provide locally targeted coupons, while Ten Square concentrated on signing partnerships with pump and ATM makers, and deals with online ad networks. (Of the latter, the company had been in discussions with CMGI-owned Engage, among others.)
However, sources close to the firm said it’s lately been unable to meet financial obligations to vendors, and has effectively shut down all operations
Repeated phone calls to the company were not returned. Investors either declined to comment on the state of Ten Square, or did not return calls.
Real Media Reports Serving 200 Billion Ads Monthly
Online ad network and technology firm Real Media said that its ad serving service, Open AdStream, is serving 200 billion impressions a month.
The New York-based firm, which is owned by European media rep firm PubliGroupe, counts Bloomberg, Weather.com, and U.S. News & World Report among its client roster.
The company also said this week that it would begin offering 25 percent discounts to users who switch from DoubleClick’s DART server.
