MP3.com beats earnings estimates

Online music company MP3.com today beat analyst expectations, reporting a narrower second-quarter loss as it continues online delivery of music products and services under legal threats from the recording industry.

Net losses for the period were $5.2 million, or 8 cents a share, on revenues of $20.2 million. That compares with losses of $6.3 million, or 22 cents a share, on revenues of $1.9 million in the same period in 1999. In the previous quarter, MP3.com lost $8.4 million, or 13 cents a share, on revenues of $17.5 million.

Analysts expected MP3.com to lose 13 cents per share this quarter, according to a survey by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Counting nonoperating charges including copyright issues related to lawsuits stemming from the company's My.MP3.com service, net losses for the quarter were $177.1 million, or $2.71 a share.

MP3.com shares closed down 6 cents at $12.06. The earnings report was issued after the close of regular trading. In after-hours trading, MP3.com shares fell slightly to $11.80.

"Notwithstanding the difficult challenges during the last quarter, as well as adverse Internet market conditions, we achieved solid top-line growth," MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson said in a statement. "Over the past quarter, our progress in delivering music and music services and products to consumers, as well as artists, has gone unmatched by any other Internet music company."