Renren.com Loses Less Money In China

Chinese Internet social networking platform Renren Inc. announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011, and the company says it’s not losing as much money as before.

Total net revenues were USD20.6 million, a 46.6% increase from the corresponding period in 2010, but net loss was USD2.6 million, a 78.5% decrease from the corresponding period in 2010. Gross profit was USD16.5 million, a 57.6% increase from the corresponding period in 2010.

Of the company’s total revenues, online advertising revenues were USD8.1 million, a 100.5% increase from the corresponding period in 2010.

Hui Huang, Renren’s chief financial officer, commented, “Our company is still in the early stages of monetization. We want to build a strong foundation for sustainable long-term growth by investing significantly in research & development, sales & marketing, and strategic acquisitions and business partnerships. The USD779 million capital we raised during our IPO on May 4, 2011, and the concurrent private placement will add to our competitive advantages and efforts to strengthen our leading position in the real-name SNS market in China.”

Internet value-added services revenues were USD12.4 million, representing a 24.7% increase from the corresponding period in 2010. The company says the increase in IVAS revenues was due to increases in both online games revenues and other IVAS revenues.

Cost of revenues at Renren.com was USD4.1 million, a 14.4% increase from the corresponding period in 2010. Operating expenses were USD21.2 million, an 88.6% increase from the corresponding period in 2010.

For the second quarter of 2011, the company expects to generate revenues in an amount ranging from USD29 to USD30 million, representing 46% to 51% year-on-year growth.