Internet search engine and portal company Infoseek Corp posted better-than-expected results for its first quarter, with a pro forma net loss of $18.2m, or $0.39 per share on revenue up 138% at $30.2m. Wall Street had been expecting a loss of $0.44, according to First Call. Including the effects of acquisition- related charges for in-process R&D and the amortization of intangibles, actual net loss was $104m, compared to a loss of $4.6m in the year-ago quarter. The Sunnyvale. California-based company also announced Thursday that it changed its fiscal year following the acquisition of Starwave Corp to a 52-53-week fiscal year ending on September 30 of each year. the change was done to match Starwave’s existing fiscal year. Thus, fiscal 1999 will only include operating results for nine months. Results for the first quarter included a only few weeks of revenue from Starwave. Infoseek says that for the month of December the various Disney and Infoseek web sites, if combined as Go Network, would have ranked in the top 5 properties in terms of unique users, with 21 million users, or a 36% reach. Daily page views for Infoseek, Go.com and the Starwave joint ventures in the month of December averaged 33 million, down from 38 million in September, a decline which the company blames on decreased traffic on the joint venture sites, the NBA lockout, seasonality in sports and news- driven events. The company says, however, that by mid-January after the launch of the Go Network, average daily page views over a recent seven-day period had crept back up to 38 million. Revenues from Infoseek’s software division, meanwhile rose 172% year-over-year to $2.2m and the company says the installed base for its search and intranet navigation software now exceeds 1,000 licensed customers. Looking ahead, Infoseek warned analysts that it will incur significantly increased expenses in the near term, mostly due to marketing activities, as it plans a 100-day media and web blitz to support the recent launch of Go. Second-quarter results will also be impacted by an estimated $3m related to the costs of the integration of Starwave and a further $4m acquisition charge associated with this month’s acquisition of Quando Inc. The company reckons second quarter revenues may increase slightly over the first quarter and that the operating loss, excluding charges, will increase at least $10m from the prior quarter. á