AOL Posts Large Loss on Accounting Charge

AOL (AOL) reported a large second-quarter loss of $1.06 billion, or $9.89 a share, from net income of $90.7 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-ago period due to a goodwill impairment charge of $1.4 billion. The company continued to see falling advertising revenue and subscriber services.

Excluding the goodwill charge and other items, AOL earned 66 cents per share. Analysts had expected earnings of 41 cents per share. The Internet service company's revenue fell 26% to $584.1 million from $791.5 million, falling short of analyst forecast of $602 million. Advertising revenue fell by 27% to $296.9 million. Subscription revenue also fell 27% to $260.2 million.

During the quarter, AOL, the parent of DailyFinance, said it continued to divest non-core assets and significantly reduced costs.

"In the second quarter, we continued our efforts to successfully reposition AOL for growth and the Company is getting healthier every day," said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO. "Although we have much more significant goals for the future of AOL, we are pleased with this quarter's internal and external trends."