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Earthlink beats estimates
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February 7, 2000: 11:25 a.m. ET
Combined 4Q loss with merger mate MindSpring a dime above forecast
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Internet service provider Earthlink on Monday turned in fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates by a dime a share.
The figures include the combination of Earthlink (ELNK: Research, Estimates) and fellow-ISP MindSpring (MSPG: Research, Estimates), since the companies on Friday finalized their $4 billion merger.
On a pro-forma basis, the combined company reported a fourth-quarter loss of $25.85 million, or 22 cents a share, before merger costs. Analysts polled by First Call had forecast a loss of 32 cents a share. A year earlier, the company's earnings before merger costs were $563,000, or 1 cent a share.
Including merger costs, the company's quarterly net loss blossomed to $60.75 million, or 55 cents a share, from $21.58 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue for the quarter more than doubled to $199.15 million.
For all of 1999, the loss for the integrated company was $25.4 million, or 22 cents a share, prior to acquisition expenses, up from $1.1 million, or 1 cent a share, in 1998. Net loss grew to $173.69 million, or $1.65 a share, from $53.18 million, or 66 cents.
Combined revenue was $670.4 million, more than twice the $290.61 million in the prior year.
Membership grew by 322,000 accounts in the fourth quarter, and the companies finished the year with 3.1 million members on a combined basis.
The companies said the merger was designed to create a company with a wider range of revenue sources -- including narrowband, broadband and Web hosting, as well as content, commerce and advertising revenue.
In a conference call, Earthlink CEO Garry Betty predicted the company will see a profit of $450,000 from new membership in the first quarter, and that by year's end, there will be 4.5 million members. Betty also forecasted $1 billion in full-year revenue for 2000 and that gross margins would hit the high 60 percent range. 
--from staff and wire reports
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EarthLink
MindSpring
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