A nearly 10-fold increase in quarterly sales for Linux server maker VA Linux
shows the continued strong momentum in the Linux market. But the company’s
heavy investments in marketing caused its losses to swell 5-fold. VA Linux said
sales skyrocketed from $4.3 million to $34.6 million in the third quarter of
fiscal 2000.
But, it lost $20.6 million, although much of that was due to costs associated
with the acquisitions of TruSolutions and NetAttach. Without those costs, VA
Linux would have lost $4.5 million, compared to a loss of $3.4 million during
the same period last year.
VA Linux shares are now trading at around $40, down more than 80 per cent
from the first-day close of $239 a share when the stock was issued last December
9.