Martha Stewart

Losses for the three months to June totalled $19.3m (�10.6m), down from a $931,000 profit a year earlier.

The firm's image is closely bound to that of Ms Stewart, who was found guilty in March of lying to investigators about a stock sale.

To stem losses, the firm will ditch its internet unit except for flower sales.

In July, a Manhattan court sentenced America's lifestyle guru to five months in jail and five months of house arrest over charges of conspiracy and obstruction.

She was also given two years supervised release and a fine of a $30,000 (�16,000), but remains at large pending an appeal.

Lifestyle high priestess

Martha Stewart's stable of books, magazines, television shows and multimedia offerings telling the American public how to eat, dress, marry, garden and entertain have made her a household name in the US.

With Living Omnimedia pulling in revenues of $295m (�161.7m) Ms Stewart was a picture of success, and sat on the board of the New York Stock Exchange.

Her image was the business's key asset

But her indictment in June 2003, on charges connected with sales of stock in Living Omnipedia just before a profit warning, forced her resignation as chief executive and chairwoman of the company, although she remains editorial director of the firm.

The dented image has done the company's performance little favours, and it is now predicting further losses for the third quarter of the year.

It is now distancing itself from its stricken founder, announcing the launch of a TV show to accompany its magazine "Everyday Food" - which avoids the Stewart name altogether.