Yahoo reported a net profit of USD 163 million in the third quarter, more than double the year-earlier total of EUR 76 million, on earnings of USD 1.305 billion, up from USD 1.226 billion in Q3 2015. Earnings per share came in at 20 cents compared to 15 cents a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA dipped to USD 229 million from USD 244 million. The company added that its net revenue was positively affected by a recent change in accounting practices, without which its search revenue would have been down 14 percent.
Yahoo’s display advertising revenue was down 7 percent year on year to USD 476 million due to a 5 percent fall in the number of ads sold, while mobile revenue increased to USD 396 million from USD 271 million and accounted for 32 percent of traffic-driven revenue. Revenue also grew in Yahoo's Mavens strategic areas, to USD 524 million from USD 422 million the year before. Total traffic driven revenue was up to USD 1.250 billion from USD 1.115 billion.
CEO Marissa Mayer announced that she was pleased with the results and said the company was still “busy preparing for integration with Verizon,” after the telecommunications giant agreed to buy Yahoo for USD 4.8 billion in July. The deal is set to close in the first quarter of next year, subject to shareholder and regulator approval.Referring to the recent major data breach at Yahoo, Mayer said: “We take deep responsibility in protecting our users and the security of their information. We’re working hard to retain their trust and are heartened by their continued loyalty as seen in our user engagement trends.”
