AOL sales drop by a quarter, reports billion dollar loss

'Getting healthier everyday'

AOL blew another hole in its finances today after the internet veteran posted a massive quarterly loss, having swallowed a Q2 goodwill impairment charge related to its sell-off of Bebo.

Worse still, the company saw its advertising revenue plummet 27 per cent to $296.9m in the quarter ended 30 June. In the same period a year earlier AOL pulled in $407.2m.

Total revenues dropped 26 per cent to $584.1m during the quarter.

The company recorded a second quarter loss of $1.06bn, or $9.89 a share, compared with a profit of $90.7m or 86 cents a share in its 2009 Q2. AOL was also hit with a goodwill impairment charge of $1.4bn during the quarter.

“The underlying drivers of the impairment were a significant increase in net assets due principally to cash provided by continuing operations and a significant deferred tax asset associated with Bebo concurrent with a significant decline in AOL's stock price since April,” the firm sombrely noted.

AOL bought the dilapidated social networking site just two years ago for $850m.

Despite all that, the firm’s chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong insisted in a terse statement that AOL was "getting healthier every day".

He added: "Although we have much more significant goals for the future of AOL, we are pleased with this quarter's internal and external trends.” ®