RealNetworks Inc is edging towards profitability faster than Wall Street expected. The Seattle, Washington-based streaming media company yesterday turned in fourth quarter net losses of two cents a share, two cents better than expected, but that’s before goodwill amortization from its March 1998 acquisition of Vivo Software Inc. All in, net losses were $1.1m, after the $532,000 amortization cost, down from $2.6m last time, on revenues that rose 80.3% to $14.3m. The quarter saw the introduction of the G2 system, which includes the integration of Excite Inc search technology and Intel Corp’s Streaming Web Video software, as well as RealNetworks own SureStream technology. RealNetworks now claims more than 50 million registered users and in December 1998, 15.5 million active unique users of its technology. Chief executive Rob Glaser told a conference call after the market closed that talks continue with various portals, including Yahoo, to expand existing relationships. The company believes it still has an 85% share of the streaming media market, despite the encroachment of Microsoft’s Windows Media Player. The two companies went their separate ways in November when Microsoft sold its minority stake in RealNetworks after the two clashed following Glaser’s testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in July, when he testified that Windows Media Player disables RealNetworks’ player when they were both installed on a PC. For the year RealNetworks recorded net losses of $16.4m, after an adjusted acquisition charge of $8.7m and goodwill amortization totaling $1.6m, up from $11.2m losses the previous year, on revenues that rose 84.2% to $46.9m. Cash and equivalents at the year end were a healthy $89.8m.
