Drugstore.com Loses Money but Gains from Sales

Online drugstore giant Drugstore.com lost more than $2 million during the second quarter of 2010, when it bought a beauty product company. Even with this loss, its medicine sales helped keep it afloat. In fact, there was a stronger showing in sales from patients who buy medication online, and that’s why the company’s total revenue grew by 27 percent. It has now earned $113 million with the help of non-prescription drug sales.

There are some business transactions that aren’t included in this quarter’s released statements. One of these is the online drugstore’s sale of its mail-order pharmacy business for $5 million. That’s going to be included in the third quarter report, which is predicted to reflect a profit of $2 million.

Even with the losses this quarter, the online drugstore is optimistic. It expects to get over $100 million during the next quarter of 2010. We’ll see if these profits, once again, rely on sales from people who buy medication online.