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Hosted CRM services provider Salesforce.com reported its fiscal third quarter earnings Wednesday, with revenues nearly doubling from year to year, but with net income down.
The San Francisco-based company, reporting quarterly earnings as a public company for only the second time since its June IPO, saw revenues of $46.4 million in the quarter ended Oct. 31, up from $25.4 million in the same period a year ago. Subscription and support revenues climbed from $22.5 million to $41.5 million year-over-year.
Net income fell, however, from $3.8 million to $2.2 million year-to-year, as expenses jumped across the board, particularly marketing, which climbed from $14.6 million in last years third quarter to $24.9 million in this years.
Research and development spending increased from $1.9 million to $2.5 million.
Salesforce.com reported 12,500 customers and 195,000 paying subscribers at the end of the quarter, increases of 62 percent and 81 percent respectively year-over-year.
Also on Wednesday, Salesforce.com reported a key customer takeaway, winning office-supply retailer Staples and its 1,500 seats from rival Salesnet Inc. Staples had been a Salesnet customer for the past four years and was one of Salesnets largest accounts. It now will turn to Salesforce.com to manage its contract sales information.
Salesnet spokeswoman Donna Parent downplayed the defection of Staples as a “usual course of business.”
“Our customer base is healthy and continues to grow—thats why Salesforce.com is aggressively targeting us,” said Parent, in Boston.