Q4 turnover

2001: $3.8m 2000: $6.3m

TheStreet.com said its net loss was reduced to $6.2m (�4.33m) from $24.6m during the same period a year earlier.

The losses were slashed despite a fall in total revenues, from $6.3m during the last three months of 2000 to $3.8m during the last quarter of 2001.

The improved financial performance signals that TheStreet.com is coping with a shift in revenue away from advertising and towards a subscription model.

Similar plans are being hatched by the vast majority of the myriad financial news websites which sprung up in the 1990s but now face an industry-wide slump in advertising.

TheStreet.com's advertising revenue fell from $3.9m during the last quarter of 2000 to $1m during the last quarter of 2001.

Areas of strength

Cost savings and improved subscription earnings helped offset some of TheStreet's fall-off in advertising.

Costs were cut to $9m from $27m a year earlier.

Fourth quarter advertising earnings:

2001: $1m 2000: $3.9m

Subscriptions brought in $2.6m during the last quarter, 12% higher than during previous three months and up 27% on a year earlier.

Even advertising revenue rose during the last three months of 2001 when compared with the previous quarter, up 15%.

TheStreet.com shares closed at $1.90 on Wednesday, just a tenth of the initial public offering price in May 1999, but 48% higher than their level of a year ago.

During 2001, TheStreet.com closed its UK operations.