Yahoo's Earnings Clicked in Quarter On a Surge in Ads
Yahoo Inc. said first-quarter net income more than doubled on robust growth in online advertising, international operations and its fee- based businesses.</br></br>Yahoo also raised revenue projections for 2005.</br></br>The Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet company said net income rose to $205 million, or 14 cents a share, from $101 million, or seven cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding sales of investments and other factors, profit would have been $190 million, or 13 cents a share. That exceeded the earnings of 11 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson First Call.</br></br>Revenue rose 55% to $1.17 billion. Excluding commissions paid to marketing partners, Yahoo had revenue of $821 million, well above its projection of $765 million to $805 million. Yahoo raised its 2005 revenue projection on that basis to $3.57 billion to $3.72 billion, from $3.37 billion to $3.57 billion.</br></br>Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel told analysts the company "achieved balanced growth with contributions across the board from our multiple lines of business and geographic regions." He said in an interview that individuals on average spent more time using Yahoo, which helped boost the company's ad revenue.