Dot-com delight: Priceline profitable by next quarter

NEWS Losses have narrowed and revenues are up 18 per cent on the previous quarter. Most importantly, the company said it aims to achieve pro-forma operating profit next quarter. Priceline has managed to dig itself out of a rather large hole by pushing down admin and operating costs. The company also slashed its number of employees from 538 in Q4 2000 to 344 by the end of the Q1 of 2001. At the beginning of the year, the company suffered two major blows when its founder and CFO quit. However, in February it received backing equating to $50m from two large Asian investment firms.