Earnings: Site Relaunch Slows Growth, Moves Audible To Loss For 4Q05; Audio

A site relaunch sent Audible to a loss for 4Q05, down $2.09 million, or 9 cents per share, compared to a profit of $1.2 million in the same quarter last year. For the quarter, net revenue of $18 million was up 76 percent year over year. During 2005, Audible picked up 303,000 total customers, including 237,000 for the AudibleListener program; AudibleListener subs totalled 248,000 at the end of the year. (The company signed up another 32, ooo AudibleListener subs in January.)

– Chairman Don Katz declined to provide detailed guidance. It’s not an ideological decision, he told analysts, but recognition that Audible has too many accounting variables now to be specific. He said anyone who has heard of “multiple revenue element recognition” knows it approaches metaphysics. Later, one of the analysts tryng to get a better sense of where the company’s finances are headed used the phrase “metaphysical accounting,” which may not be something you want to hear often.

–The board authorized $25 million for share buyback.

CFO Change: Andrew Kaplan will move from CFO to a focus on international growth once a successor is found. He will remain on the board through his present term but will not stand for re-election.

Earnings release | Webcast

mp3logo1.gif You can download the webcast audio here (50 min., 14 MB).

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