DoubleClick reported revenue of $96 million for the fourth quarter of 2001, a 3.7% increase over third quarter 2001. Exclusive of certain non-cash and non-recurring items, pro forma EPS was $0.01, versus ($0.09) in the third quarter 2001. GAAP EPS was ($0.48) for fourth quarter 2001, and ($2.02) for the full year 2001. Full year 2001 revenues were $406 million and pro forma EPS was ($0.24).
Total company pro forma operating expenses for the full year 2001 were $286 million, a 13% decrease over operating expenses of $329 million for the full year of 2000, demonstrating management’s tight control over expenses in 2001. Total company headcount was 1,450 at the end of 2001, down 25% from 1,929 at the end of 2000.
In an extraordinary year for our industry, we built on our profitable core businesses, closed strategic acquisitions, and retooled our operations for greater efficiency, said Kevin Ryan, CEO of DoubleClick. We have created a highly focused team committed to profitability and making marketing work better for our advertising and direct marketing clients.
The Company ended 2001 with $752 million in cash and marketable securities. The balance sheet remains strong as of the end of 2001, with working capital of $407 million, and a net cash position of $519 million. Bruce Dalziel, CFO of DoubleClick explained, Volumes have stabilized, and our cost cutting initiatives are beginning to deliver results to the bottom line. We were cash flow positive from operations as well. We have proven that we can manage through a difficult economy and still deliver value to shareholders. We are very well positioned for 2002.
The global TechSolutions division reported revenue of $51.8 million in the fourth quarter, an increase of 7% over third quarter 2001. 172 billion impressions were delivered across our global DART and email platforms, an increase of 7% over third quarter 2001. Clients such as Computer Associates, McCann Erickson, and WWF Entertainment, Inc. have begun using DoubleClick’s leading marketing tools, joining a list of 1,925 TechSolutions’ clients.
TechSolutions continued its expansion of rich media capabilities in the fourth quarter further enabling customers to streamline the process of buying and selling media online. DoubleClick introduced a Rich Media Vendor Certification Program that allows both advertisers and publishers to more easily traffic, target, serve and report on rich media ads.
DoubleClick provides our customers with streamlined products to help them reduce their costs, said David Rosenblatt, President of DoubleClick. In the year 2001 we came a long way for our advertiser clients through our rich media functionality, media planning and buying tools, and a new Site Directory. Advertising clients like Orbitz and Arnold Worldwide are asking us to help them become more effective online advertisers, and we will continue to meet their needs.
DFP clients also benefited from API (application programming interface) product improvements for DART enabling customers to integrate their legacy systems and meet all of their ad management needs. Publishers such as Terra Lycos, Kelley Blue Book, Red Herring, AccuWeather and American Greetings are taking advantage of these new offerings.
The development of DoubleClick’s email product DartMail 3.0 was completed in the fourth quarter of 2001 and all customers are now migrated onto this platform from the former FloNetwork and DARTMail solutions. 54 new clients such as Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.(Nikkei) and Brylane Inc. joined DoubleClick’s list of 287 clients in the fourth quarter. DartMail is now poised to integrate the acquisition of MessageMedia, Inc. and release a new campaign management system in the first quarter 2002 that will cement DoubleClick as a leader in email revenue and impressions delivered based on an industry leading technology platform.
Segment revenues in TechSolutions, Data and Media are stated before inter-segment eliminations of $2,441K and $7,372K for the three months ended Dec 31, 2001 and Dec 31, 2000, respectively.
The Data division reported quarterly revenue of $19.6 million, reporting the strongest historical fourth quarter on an operational basis despite lower volume across the entire catalog industry. Industry data reported by the Abacus 2001 Fall Trend Report revealed that catalog sales declines were most likely due to a channel shift to the online order channel caused by cautious consumer spending and fewer mailings by catalogers.
Brian Rainey, President of Abacus said, We are encouraged by this data as it reveals further cross channel marketing opportunities with DartMail. I’m also very proud of Abacus as it continued its tight cost control and increased its share of wallet this quarter ending the year with our most profitable fourth quarter in ten years.
Abacus reported that its BtoB Alliance has reached encouraging levels with 44 million business contacts in the database on behalf of 250+ participants. The UK Abacus Merchandise Alliance also reached profitability in the fourth quarter 2001, confirming the international expansion capabilities of the coop database model.
Global Media generated $27.2 million of revenue in the fourth quarter, a seasonal increase of 22% versus the third quarter 2001 despite a difficult and uncertain market environment. Global Media results for the fourth quarter include European Media which, in November 2001, DoubleClick agreed to sell to AdLINK Internet Media AG, a European advertising network player.
This past quarter, North American Media reduced headcount 30% while increasing revenues by 8%, said VP/General Manager of North American Media Jeffrey Silverman. Global Media added new sites to the North American Network including McAfee, Barbie.com, and AutoTrader.com. In the fourth quarter 2001, we saw both traditional direct marketers and brand marketers, such as Castrol Motor Oil, utilize the Internet as a marketing solution, and I am excited about the increased momentum, concluded Silverman.
Email technology within the TechSolutions division is expected to generate revenues between $9.5M and $10.5M with gross margins in the low 50’s.
