Features

SAN FRANCISCO — Online search engine provider Ask Jeeves Inc. reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss than expected Thursday but warned of a wider loss in the current quarter. 

Shares of the Emeryville-based company tumbled $1.23, more than 42 percent, to $1.67 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. 

The company said it earned $1.3 million, or 3 cents a share for the three months ended Dec. 31. In the year ago period, Ask Jeeves reported a loss of $62 million, or $1.74 a share. 

Excluding restructuring charges, gains on the dissolution of a joint venture and other one-time items, the company reported a pro forma net loss of $3.5 million, or 9 cents a share. That’s narrower than its year-ago equivalent loss of $18.7 million, or 53 cents a share. 

The operating results beat the consensus loss estimate of 17 cents per share among analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call. 

Revenues were $15.4 million, down 33 percent from $23 million in the year-ago period. 

For all of 2001, the company reported a net loss of $425.3 million, or $11.48 per share, on revenue of $66.6 million. In fiscal 2000, it lost $189.6 million, or $5.51 per share on revenue of $95.7 million. 

For the current quarter, the company warned it expects a pro forma net loss of about $10 million, or 25 cents a share — wider than the loss of 16 cents a share Wall Street analysts were expecting. 

The company said it expects a pro forma loss of 50 cents a share for all of 2002 but expects to achieve a small operating profit in the fourth quarter. 

Company officials remain confident there’s enough money in the bank to last until it achieves profitability. The company said it expects to exit the year 2002 with more than $20 million of unrestricted cash. 

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http://www.askjeeves.com