For the first quarter to March 31, the Australian and Nasdaq-listed company reported a net income of $1.1m, compared to a net loss of $5.4m a year ago, on revenue that was up 67% on 2002 at $33.4m.
LookSmart provides a directory of web sites where companies have paid for inclusion. The company provides the directory to end users via partners including MSN. When a surfer clicks a paid link, the fee is split between LookSmart and the partner.
The company said yesterday that average revenue per click stayed flat sequentially at $0.17, while the number of clicks increased 151% on the first quarter 2002 to 176 million during the three-month period.
Like competitors including Overture Services Inc and Google Inc, LookSmart’s business requires it to give the larger share of clickthrough revenue to the portals, and that slice has been getting steadily bigger as the companies rely more on one or two partners.
LookSmart CEO Jason Kellerman said in a statement that these so-called distribution costs were 53% of revenue in the first quarter, exactly in line with expectations. This is expected to be flat to up to 55% in the full year.
Source: Computerwire
