Yahoo claims investments in mobile starting to pay off

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer claimed the company’s revenue growth in the third quarter was the result of progress in the new investment areas of mobile, social, native and video.

Mobile revenue for Q3 was more than US$200 million on a GAAP basis, representing 17 per cent of total revenue for the period. This was the first time revenue generated from mobile advertising was broken out separately by the company.

Yahoo estimated that gross revenue from mobile will reach more than US$1.2 billion by the end of the year. This equates to GAAP revenue of more than US$700 million in 2014.

The company has revamped its mobile offerings and acquired developer talent and app technology under the stewardship of Mayer.

In terms of engagement, the company had around 550 million mobile monthly active users by the end of the third quarter, up approximately 17 per cent year-on-year and more than doubling since the company renewed its mobile efforts in October 2012.

The company reported GAAP revenue of US$1.15 billion for the period, a one per cent year-on-year improvement. Net income totalled US$6.8 billion, after the US$6.3 billion generated from the sale of its shares in Alibaba Group was accounted for. Net earnings a year earlier were just US$297 million.

During the third quarter, Yahoo built on its mobile strategy with the completion of the acquisition of mobile analytics company Flurry.