Yahoo Shows Signs of Growth

For the first time in more than a year, Yahoo Inc. is growing.

Yahoo on Tuesday reported its revenue, minus commissions paid to partners for Web traffic, rose 1% in the first quarter after four straight quarters without growth.

Revenue from display ads was flat at $453 million.

The revenue gains, however modest, are a sign that Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's attempts to woo marketers are working. In nearly two years as CEO, she has updated popular sites like Flickr and Yahoo Finance, created splashy new online magazines and slick mobile apps, and acquired dozens of small startups to inject new talent into the aging Internet giant.

Now, advertisers who have shifted budgets to Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. over the past several years may be giving Yahoo another shot.

Overall, Yahoo reported earnings of $311.6 million, or 29 cents a share, down from $390.3 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain costs, per-share earnings were flat at 38 cents.

Total revenue fell 1% to $1.14 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 37 cents a share on revenue of $1.08 billion.

Write to Douglas MacMillan at [e-mail] and John Kell at [e-mail]

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