Quokka Sports CEO Alan Ramadan told analysts yesterday
that the company hopes its joint venture with NBC as
producer of NBCOlympics.com will result in Quokka attracting
"10-20 million unique visitors during the Summer Olympics,"
according to Jennifer Allen of BRIDGE NEWS. That number
"would be a jump for Quokka, whose sports network averaged
1.25 million unique visitors per month" for the first
quarter ended March 31, up 84% from 680,000 in the fourth
quarter of '99. Ramadan said that "there are about 110
million on-line users" in the U.S., and 200 million people
"will watch the Olympics on television." Ramadan: "Our hope
would be to get 10% to 20% of those people on line."
Meanwhile, Quokka reported "better than expected" first
quarter results yesterday, losing $15.1M, or $0.34 a share,
compared with a net loss of $7.8M, or $0.23 a share, in the
first quarter of '99. Revenues were $9.5M, up 42% from the
fourth quarter, and up tenfold from $897,000 in the first
quarter a year ago (BRIDGE NEWS, 4/19).
A STEP AHEAD: Ramadan added that Quokka Sports "is
ahead of schedule as it moves toward profitability."
Analysts "have been expecting the company to produce
earnings by mid to late 2002," but Ramadan, noting the
company "has met other internal goals more quickly than
expected," said, "I think we're in advance of that." He
said that Quokka "would need to raise capital before the
company becomes profitable," but added, "We're not in any
screaming hurry." Ramadan said that he is "exploring the
move with strategic partners, which include" NBC, Intel and
Media One. Ramadan added that Quokka "will continue to add"
to its "sports verticals" following the first quarter
acquisition of ZoneNetwork.com, adding that future
acquisitions "would focus on companies in the mainstream of
US sports" (Jennifer Allen, BRIDGE NEWS, 4/19).
