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Yahoo Surpasses Revenue Expectations But Serves Up Big Loss

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Ethan Miller—Getty Images Yahoo! President and CEO Marissa Mayer delivers a keynote address at the 2014 International CES on Jan. 7, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV.

Though CEO Marissa Mayer kept revenue stable, she'll have to convince investors not to lose faith despite turning last quarter's profit into a big loss a quarter later.

Fresh off the heels of the first big step to finally spin-off its ownership in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (Yahoo owns 15% of it), the purple giant is turning its attention to its “MaVeNS,” or mobile, video, native and social ads. Here are the report’s highlights:

What you need to know: Yahoo’s adjusted revenue for the quarter at $1.04 billion saw no change from the previous quarter or the year-ago quarter, and it just barely surpassed analyst forecasts of $1.03 billion. The company said it made a net loss of $22 million, or 2 cents per share, from a profit of $270 million, or 26 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding certain costs, Yahoo’s quarterly profit was 16 cents per share, falling short of the 18 cents that analysts had expected.

Yahoo’s revenue from mobile reached $252 million, a solid 54% year-over-year increase. Mobile accounted for 22% of the company’s ad-supported revenue this quarter.

In after-hours trading, Yahoo’s shares fell 1.46% to $39.15.

The big number: This quarter, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is all about what she calls “MaVeNS,” or the mobile, video, native and social advertising markets. The conglomeration of sources brought in $399 million in revenue this quarter, up from $249 million a year ago, and now representing 35% of Yahoo’s traffic-driven revenue. In the previous quarter, MaVeNS brought in $363 million in revenue.

What you might have missed: Last week, Yahoo filed a legal document to the SEC as the first step to spinning off its ownership in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Subject to final IRS approval, the new entity will be a freestanding public company likely worth around $30 billion, based on Alibaba’s current stock price. The spin-off will likely impact much of Yahoo’s cashflow, something Mayer will have to make up for as she weathers the post-Alibaba business.

Yahoo Inc. – Earnings Surprise | FindTheCompany

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