Homestore admits it reported more money than it made

NEWS US dot-com Homestore.com has been hit by a raft of lawsuits after it admitted it botched its 2001 accounts, adding almost $100m onto its revenue. Before Christmas, the original "bricks and clicks" internet company - which sells houses over the web - announced it was conducting an internal inquiry into "the company's accounting practices", and admitted it would have to re-state results. Yesterday the company said the problem - which comes from wrongly attributing barter deals as advertising revenue - will put a $45m to $94m hole in the balance sheets. Shares in the firm have been suspended over the festive period, but nevertheless yesterday the firm was hit by a number of lawsuits alleging impropriety and claiming that investors were misled. Hyomestore.com had originally reported revenues in the first three financial quarters of the year of £350m. Now it says up to a third of those revenues were actually contingent on purchases of third party equipment and services. The once high-flying company last traded on Friday 21 December, closing at $3.60. Many thought the firm had weathered the dot-com fallout successfully when it kept reporting healthy revenues throughout last year. Now valued at $423m, the firm was worth more than $10bn at the height of the dot com boom.