Marchex Revenue Sinks, Sells $1M in Domain Names: UPDATED
Earnings miss estimates while firm sells $1M in non-strategic domain names.
Online advertising firm Marchex (NASDAQ: MCHX) missed analysts’ adjusted earnings estimates by 3 cents per share, earning only 2 cents per share in the first quarter of 2009. Analysts had predicted earnings of 5 cents per share. Revenue fell 28% compared to the same quarter last year, coming in at only $26.6 million.
During the quarter Marchex sold $1M worth of domain names:
In addition, during the quarter, Marchex sold a modest number of non-strategic domains that yielded nearly $1 million. There is still significant demand for high quality domains and Marchex believes that will remain the case in 2009 and beyond.
[Updated 5-7-09] On yesterday’s investor conference call, Marchex CEO Russell Horowitz stated the firm is stepping up efforts to sell some of its domain names.
Marchex’s domain portfolio consists mainly of domain names gained when the firm purchased Yun Ye’s Ult Search portfolio for over $100M. The firm focuses on local advertising and uses a proprietary ad network of 70,000 advertisers in addition to a Yahoo advertising feed.
