Yahoo triples first-quarter profits to $310m

Yahoo has cut its operating costs by $76m over the year

Yahoo has reported a threefold year-over-year rise in first-quarter profits to $310m (£201m). Revenues for the quarter rose one per cent to $1.6bn (£1.03bn).

The company's balance sheet benefitted from payments by Microsoft as arranged in the search and advertising deal last year, and shows returns from the sale of Zimbra and a recovery in the advertising market.

"We had a good quarter, delivering income from operations higher than our outlook," said Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz.

"Thanks to our efforts, our search share has stabilised and we grew display advertising by 20 per cent year over year. More importantly, guaranteed display grew by 24 per cent as advertisers took advantage of the science, art and scale that only Yahoo can offer."

Bartz acknowledged that revenues from search were down 14 per cent, but said that her cost-cutting programme had yielded concrete results. Operating costs had been cut by $76m (£49m) over the year, boosting operating income by 87 per cent.