AOL Lost $40 Million on Patch During First Quarter

According to Forbes, AOL lost $40 million on its local news network Patch during the first quarter. And despite adding a bunch of unpaid bloggers to its sites, AOL doesn’t expect to have much good to say about Patch for quite some time:

On this morning’s first-quarter earnings call, CFO Artie Minson said the rate of investment in Patch ought to decline in the second half of the year as a “steady stream” of the 800-plus sites begin to turn profits individually. But asked by an analyst whether the division as a whole will tip over into the black next year, Minson was unequivocal. ‘Overall, Patch won’t be profitable next year,’ he said.

You have to admire AOL for trying, but maybe it got too ahead of itself with Patch. FishbowlNY is certainly not a financial whiz, but maybe if Patch hadn’t expanded so quickly, some of the losses could’ve been avoided.

That’s just our two cents, but it sure sounds like AOL could use them.

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