Online marketing and technology company Market Leader Inc. posted a $4.3 million net loss for the final quarter of 2010, despite a 15 percent growth in revenue from the third quarter to $6.8 million.
Market Leader’s $14.3 million loss for all of 2010 was nearly double the $7.4 million loss for 2009.
CEO Ian Morris said in a statement that 2010 was an "inflection point" for the company as it transitioned from selling leads generated by sites like HouseValues.com to providing customized websites and tools for agents and brokers.
In January, Market Leader announced a five-year agreement with Keller Williams Realty to provide lead management, contact management and marketing design components of the brokerage’s new eEdge platform.
Morris said the eEdge agreement "significantly increased" Market Leader’s user base "and its ability to upsell premium software and services" to Keller Williams’ 80,000 agents in the future.
In a previous regulatory filing, Market Leader said it will receive a minimum of $10 million from Keller Williams during the initial five-year term of the eEdge agreement. The company expects to generate additional revenue from premium "software as a service" (SaaS) solutions and lead-generation services that will be made available to Keller Williams agents, teams and brokers.
Keller Williams agents pay the franchise $15 a month for eEdge, and can choose to subscribe to a Market Leader Professional Edition with additional capabilities at an introductory price of $49 a month. The price will go up to $99 next year.
More than 2,000 Keller Williams agents signed up for the promotional offer at a four-day Keller Williams event last month, Market Leader said.
"This revenue, coupled with the guaranteed payments set out in the (eEdge) agreement, is expected to significantly contribute to revenue growth starting in the second half of 2011," the company said.
