After tough Q1 Yahoo! targets growth through mobile, video, native and social

22 Apr 2015

Yahoo! has reported Q1 revenues of US$1.04bn, down from US$1.08bn a year ago. As mobile revenues surged 61pc to US$234m, the company is targeting growth in the areas of mobile, video, native and social.

The performance missed Wall Street’s expectations, with earnings per share of 15 cents below the 18 cents per share tipped by analysts.

Yahoo! saw an increase in search volumes, with searches reaching a five-year high.

During the quarter, Yahoo! renewed its relationship with Microsoft and Bing ads and search results accounted for 51pc of Yahoo!’s desktop search traffic.

Raving mavens

The company said it is targeting growth in four core areas – mobile, video, native and social advertising – which it endearingly terms “Mavens.”

Mavens revenue during Q1 came in at US$363m, compared with US$230m a year ago.

Mobile revenue was US$234m, up from US$145m a year ago.

“Yahoo is amidst a multi-year transformation to return an iconic company to greatness,” said CEO Marissa Mayer.

“This quarter, we saw encouraging revenue growth of 8pc, with display revenue growing a modest 2pc and search growing 20pc on a GAAP basis. Our mobile GAAP revenue reached US$234 million in Q1, growing 61pc year-over-year.

“We anticipated that we would grow GAAP revenue ahead of revenue ex-TAC and EBITDA, and that’s precisely what we saw this quarter. For the next phase of the transformation, we will focus on accelerating our GAAP revenue growth while managing our margins and costs.”

Yahoo! image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com