Advertising sales online and buying Overture Services have helped Yahoo triple its most recent quarterly profit over the same quarter in 2003.
"I think a lot of advertising is going to gravitate toward the Internet. That's wide open," said Amerindo Investment Advisors president Alberto Vilar – whose company just so happened to hold 7.44 million Yahoo shares four months ago – about the Yahoo profit bump.
Yahoo reportedly showed net quarterly income of $253.3 million (17 cents a share), a phenomenal jump over its third quarter 2003 earnings of $65.3 million (5 cents a share), when it still shared ad revenue with Overture, according to reports emerging at the end of the trading day October 12.
The Internet portal and search engine's third quarter revenue is anticipated to be $644.2 million, double the third quarter 2003 revenue of $309.5 million, thanks in large part to chief executive Terry Semel's program of boosting advertising sales with a new search engine and getting entertainment companies and other major advertisers to buy more ads.
Semel is expected to keep Yahoo pushing for more ad buyers from television and other traditional media, according to one published report. But the actual breakdown of advertising buyers – including adult entertainment advertising buyers – was not disclosed when the quarterly revenues and profits were announced.
“Yahoo began to demonstrate the next stage in [our] evolution in the third quarter, and in doing so recorded its sixth consecutive quarter of record revenue,” Semel said, announcing the third quarter profit results. “We accelerated the pace at which new products and services were developed, which in-turn helped increase the level of user engagement across the Yahoo network. Our engaged audience enables us to deliver an unmatched set of advertising opportunities, providing deeper value to our marketers, and supporting the mantra that great products are the key to a great business.”
