NEW YORK: Yahoo reported a stronger-than-expected first-quarter profit, results hailed by chief executive Marissa Mayer as showing growth in the Web giant’s “core” business.
It earned $312m on revenues of $1.1bn, topping most analysts forecasts. Profits were down 20 percent from a year ago with revenues nearly flat for Yahoo, which has been making major shifts under Mayer, a former Google executive.
Mayer said the first quarter data “was an early and important sign of growth in our core business.”“And, with mobile pivotal to our future growth, we’re delighted to now see more than 430 million monthly mobile users accessing Yahoo’s new products,” she said in the earnings release.
Yahoo shares vaulted higher by some eight percent in after-hours trade following the release to $37.
Under Mayer, Yahoo has been revamping many of its offerings while emphasising mobile services and using cash for a series of acquisitions. Yahoo is also moving more into video, with plans for its original television programmes in the works. Yahoo is also a key shareholder in Chinese Web giant Alibaba, which is in the process of launching an initial public offering in the United States.
After an IPO, Yahoo, one of the early investors in Alibaba, has the right to sell its remaining shares.
The Chinese firm has not yet released details on its financing, but Yahoo’s figures showed Alibaba with a 2013 fourth quarter profit of $1.35 billion on some $3bn in revenues. The IPO is expected to be the largest in the tech space since Facebook’s in 2012, with Alibaba’s value estimated at some $150 billion.AFP
