John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Vonage Posts a Profit–On Paper

vonageWell, what do you know. Vonage posted a quarterly profit. The Iong-suffering Internet phone company reported first-quarter earnings today and with them its first profit ever: $5 million on revenue of $224 million. Sadly, that profit was only made possible by “a $13 million mark-to-market adjustment relating to the derivative liability in the Company’s convertible debt.” Without the adjustment, Vonage would have reported a net loss of $7.7 million.

That’s not nearly as bad as the $10.3 million loss the company posted in the fourth quarter of 2008. Still, it’s not pretty. Especially given some of the company’s other metrics. Vonage (VG) lost 6,000 net subscriber lines during the quarter at a time when you’d expect the souring economy to be driving cost-conscious consumers into its waiting arms. Churn rose to 3.1 percent from 2.9 percent. And ultimately, the company ended the quarter with 2,583,861 subscribers, fewer than the 2,610,360 it had a year ago.

In its earnings release, Vonage said it has tapped TBWA\Chiat\Day, “a firm known for creating impactful messaging on highly regarded brands,” to do something similar for it. But is that even possible with a not-so-highly-regarded brand like Vonage?

Twitter’s Tanking

December 30, 2013 at 6:49 am PT

2013 Was a Good Year for Chromebooks

December 29, 2013 at 2:12 pm PT

BlackBerry Pulls Latest Twitter for BB10 Update

December 29, 2013 at 5:58 am PT

Apple CEO Tim Cook Made $4.25 Million This Year

December 28, 2013 at 12:05 pm PT

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus