Rosetta Stone foresees more U.S. sales declines, names new chairman Arlington-based Rosetta Stone Inc. named a new chairman of the board Monday after warning that a decline in U.S. consumer sales, which hurt fourth-quarter results, would continue into 2011.
Rosetta Stone said that Laurence Franklin, 58, has taken over as chairman after serving as a member of the board since May 2006. Franklin is the former CEO of Tumi Inc., a manufacturer and retailer of luxury travel, business and lifestyle accessories. Franklin succeeds Laura Witt, who served as chairman since December 2005.
That revitalization will become a high priority for Rosetta Stone. U.S. sales, which account for 63 percent of all the company’s bookings, fell 11 percent last quarter. International consumer sales are robust. Bookings rose 93 percent last quarter.
Internet domains top 205 million
The online world added another 3.5 million Web sites during the last three months of 2010, pushing the number of domain name registrations over 205 million, according to Dulles-based VeriSign Inc.
Its Domain Name Registry Brief says the fourth quarter ended with a base of 205.3 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, a 1.7 percent increase over the third quarter. Registrations grew by 12.1 million in 2010, an annual growth rate of 6.3 percent.
VeriSign’s database of “.com” and “.net” domains accounted for 105.2 million registrations, up 4 percent from a year ago.
DiamondRock swings to profit
DiamondRock Hospitality Co., which raised $150 million in a secondary stock offering in January, reported a fourth-quarter profit on rising occupancy and room rates.
Fourth-quarter revenue totaled $209.3 million compared with $175.7 million a year earlier. The Bethesda real estate investment trust reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.9 million, or 1 cent per share, compared to a quarterly loss of $9 million, or 7 cents per share, a year ago.
The company posted fourth-quarter funds from operations of $34.3 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with $22.1 million, or 18 cents per share, in the same period the year before.
