Shopzilla’s 2009 Results

According to the 10-K, Shopzilla’s 2009 revenue was down aprx. 21% compared with 2008 and segment profit was down aprx. 50% over the same period.

Here are the details:
2007 Revenue: $219.9M, Segment Profit: $46.6M
2008 Revenue: $238.5M, Segment Profit: $62.5M
2009 Revenue: $173.9M, Segment Profit: $30.7M

From the filing:

Interactive Services’ results in 2009 compared with 2008 have been affected by the downturn in the economy, a less favorable sponsored-link contract with Google and the decision to competitively reposition Shopzilla for long-term growth. Reduced spending by customers resulted in lower volume and cost per click prices during the year. As a result of the repositioning, we are foregoing near-term margin with the underlying intention of engaging consumers more deeply in the product.

The increases in operating revenues in 2008 compared with 2007 reflected growth in revenues from Western European markets and Shopzilla’s effectiveness in increasing and monetizing user traffic. The downturn in the economy and its related impact on the retail marketplace in the fourth quarter of 2008 partially offset these increases in operating revenues.

The decrease in segment costs and expenses for 2009 compared with 2008 reflects efforts to align costs with the current business conditions.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, we recorded a goodwill impairment charge of $244 million for our Shopzilla business. The write-down was a function of both the changing competitive environment for online comparison shopping services and our subsequent decision to reposition Shopzilla within that marketplace for maximum long-term growth. The repositioning, which involves some meaningful changes in our existing business model, coupled with Shopzilla’s exposure to the slowing retail market negatively impacted our near-term operating outlook for the business.

Interactive Services is expected to generate segment profits of approximately $33 million to $35 million for the full-year of 2010.

In the course of performing our 2008 impairment review, we determined that the goodwill of our Shopzilla business was impaired. The impairment was a function of both the changing competitive environment for online comparison shopping services and our subsequent decision to reposition Shopzilla within that marketplace for maximum long-term growth. The goodwill impairment charge totaling $244 million was recorded in 2008.

Other notes:
-In 2009, Interactive Services was aprx. 11% of revenue for Scripps Network Interactive (SNI) ($173M/$1.541B).
-In 2009, the segment profit for Interactive Services of arpx. $30M was dwarfed by the aprx. $636M for its Lifestyle Media division.

(via PaidContent – story about uSwitch sale)

Shopzilla Q4 2009 Results – with calculations for year over year Revenue and Profit

All my numbers were gathered from public earnings releases on Scripps and Scripps Network Interactive. I was careful to double check my numbers, but I found some discrepancies in the releases which I can’t explain. Remember, I’m not a financial analyst. If you’d like the raw numbers I worked off of, please email me.

Shopzilla is one of the few major shopping engines for which we still have transparency into financial results as Scripps Networks Interactive breaks out Shopzilla results.

Here’s the relevant information from the press release:

Interactive Services revenue was $49.0 million compared with $65.3 million in the year-ago quarter.

Segment expenses decreased 13 percent to $39.0 million.

Segment profit was $10.1 million compared with $20.3 million.

The company’s initiatives to reposition and differentiate Shopzilla’s products continue to show positive trends. Leads to Shopzilla merchant partners in the quarter grew 11 percent year over year. The lead volume metric is important because it measures the value Shopzilla is delivering to its direct merchant partners, as well as the level of engagement that consumers are having with the core content on its branded comparison shopping Web sites at bizrate.com and Shopzilla.com.

For full year 2009, Shopzilla had revenues of aprx. $180m.
For comparison sake, revenues for Shopzilla in Q2 – Q4 2008 were aprx. $175m. Note that this doesn’t include Q1 2008. In that quarter, the Interactive division – with uSwitch – had revenues of $77.5m. I can’t find Q1 2008 numbers for Shopzilla alone, so I’ll be extremely conservative and say that uSwitch contributed 15% of revenues, which means that Shopzilla would have had revenues of aprx. $66m, bringing total revenue for Shopzilla for 2008 to aprx. $240m.

For full year 2009, Shopzilla had segment profit of aprx. 30.8m.
For comparison sake, I have to do similar math to the above to figure out what Q1 profit for Shopzilla would have been. I’ll say that uSwitch contributed 20% of Q1 2008 profit, which means that Shopzilla would have had profit of 16.8m in Q1 2008. That would bring total profit for Shopzilla for 2008 to aprx. $61.5m.

So what were the effects of the recession on Shopzilla?
Shopzilla went from revenues of $240m and profit of $61.5m in 2008 to revenues of $180m and profit of $30.8m in 2009.

And does Scripps Network Interactive expect Shopzilla to have a resounding rebound in 2010?
According to the press release, not exactly. 2010 guidance is for “Segment profit from the company’s Shopzilla comparison shopping business is expected to be $33 million to $35 million.”

Scripps Reports Q1 2008 Financial Results – Growth at Shopzilla

As I’m at the ECMTA conference in New Orleans and SingleFeed is in the midst of an awesome release, I don’t have time to dig into the numbers, and I won’t be able to listen to the conference call live.

Here’s the press release.

As for Scripps Interactive:

At the company’s Interactive Media division, which includes online comparison shopping services Shopzilla and uSwitch, first-quarter revenue grew 23 percent to $77.5 million. Segment profit for the Interactive Media division was $21.0 million compared with a slight loss during the same period a year earlier.

The Interactive Media division’s first-quarter growth is attributable to improvements at Shopzilla that have resulted in the business being able to cost effectively increase and monetize user traffic and increasing energy switching activity and significantly lower expenses at uSwitch in the United Kingdom.

During the prior-year period, Interactive Media segment profit was reduced by about $15 million due to a combination of factors including leadership transition costs at Shopzilla and increased marketing expenses at uSwitch.

It’s nice to see Shopzilla in a positive light again:

“We also saw strong growth at our Interactive Media segment, thanks primarily to Shopzilla’s improving ability to efficiently monetize its growing levels of user traffic.”

Segment Summary:

Interactive Media revenue was $77.5 million for the first quarter compared with $62.9 million in the first quarter 2007.

Segment profit was $21.0 million compared with a segment loss of $381,000 in the first quarter of 2007. During the prior-year period Interactive Media segment profit was reduced by about $15 million due to a combination of factors including leadership transition costs at Shopzilla and increased marketing expenses at uSwitch.