Disney's Go.com loses more than $1 billion

Go.com, the Internet subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, lost more than $1 billion in fiscal 1999 but saw a slight increase in its total revenues from the previous year, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Factoring in depreciation and amortization costs, Go.com lost $1.06 billion in fiscal 1999, an increase from a loss of $991 million in 1998, according to the filing.

Go.com's Internet revenues, which include all advertising- and e-commerce-related revenue, jumped to $200 million in 1999 from $131 million in 1998. Go.com's catalog division reported a decline to $148 million in 1999 from $192 million the previous year.

Go.com encompasses Disney's Internet properties, including its Go Network Web portal, search engine Infoseek, Disney Online, ESPN.com, ABC.com and Family.com; it also incorporates the catalog products and merchandise division.

Disney spun off its Internet division into a separate tracking stock when it completed its acquisition of Infoseek in November. Disney took a 43 percent stake in Infoseek in June 1998 in an effort to create its own Web portal to feature its many well-known sites.

According to Steve Wadsworth, president of Go.com, this year's financials reflected a transition period when Disney consolidated its Infoseek, Starwave and Disney operations.

"This performance is all during a period of significant transition, during which significant components of the business have been managed by different teams," Wadsworth said, according to a transcript of his speech today delivered at the PaineWebber conference in New York.

Shares of Go.com rose 1.5 today to close at 26.75.