LONDON (Brand Republic) - AOL Time Warner has recorded a rise in fourth-quarter losses to $1.1bn (£745.5m), compared with $194m (£131m) last time, pushed up by the cost of the $350bn (£237bn) merger of the two companies.
It incurred merger-related costs of $155m (£105m). These related to the AOL and Time Warner deal, and Time Warner鈥檚 failed takeover of UK music group EMI. It incurred a further $41m (£27.8m) cost for restructuring its stake in high-speed internet service Road Runner.
Fourth-quarter 2000 revenues at the behemoth grew in line with Wall Street expectations to $10.2bn (£6.9bn) against $8.5bn (£5.7bn) during the last three months of 1999.
AOL鈥檚 ISP is experiencing a growth in subscriber numbers at a rate of 23,000 a day, bringing its total to 26.7m. Its advertising revenues grew almost 71% to $686m (£465m).
The cable division saw revenues climb 13% to $1.6bn (£1.084bn) for the fourth quarter, compared with $1.4bn (£948m) last year and profit was up by 16%.
The cable division鈥檚 strong performance, however, was offset by a 16% fall in profits at Time Warner鈥檚 film division to $183m (£124m) despite a strong performance by The Perfect Storm, starring George Clooney, which has taken $327m (£221m) at the box office to date.
Fourth-quarter revenues at Warner Music, home to Madonna, were flat and profits declined 10% to $178m (£120m).
The company expects subscription revenues to grow between 12% and 14%, and advertising and e-commerce revenues to increase between 18% and 22% in 2001.
The company also expects to incur a $50m (£33.8m) restructuring charge for axing more than 2,000 jobs earlier in January.