TheStreet.com Posts Loss, Revenue Drops

During the quarter, paid-services revenue, which is comprised of subscription, syndication, licensing and information services revenue, totaled $9.5 million, a decrease of 12% from a year earlier. Subscription revenue fell 16% to $6.8 million, while syndication, licensing and information services revenue rose 1% to $2.7 million.

Marketing services revenue, which is made up of advertising and interactive marketing services revenue, totaled $4.5 million for the first quarter, down 45% year over year. Advertising revenue fell to $3.2 million, a 47% decline, and interactive marketing services revenue, derived from Promotions.com, was $1.4 million, a 39% decrease from the same quarter last year.

Paid services and marketing services revenue in the first quarter accounted for 68% and 32% of total revenue, respectively. This compares to a revenue mix of 57% for paid services and 43% for marketing services in the first quarter of 2008.

As of March 31, TheStreet.com's cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash stood at $80.1 million.

"We've focused on opportunities to decrease operating expenses across the business," Eric Ashman, the company's chief financial officer, told investors in a conference call after the bell Tuesday, citing headcount reductions and a major data-center consolidation. "We certainly expect to see benefits [from those cost-saving measures] in Q2 and subsequent quarters."

Also on the call, Otte said that recruitment of the next CEO is well underway. "I think the process is going quite well," he said. "We're very excited by the caliber of the candidates we've seen so far."