Yahoo Had A Fat 2002Yahoo Had A Fat 2002

A diversified revenue stream and growing consumer acceptance of fee-based online content contributed to a profitable fiscal 2002 for Yahoo Inc. In fact, premium services, including subscription E-mail, personal ads, paid searches, and DSL, brought in about half of the company's revenue.

Yahoo had 2.2 million paying customers in 2002, up from 400,000 the year before. It all added up to a sunny picture Wednesday, when the company reported a profit of $42.8 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $953 million for the year. This compares with a loss of $92.8 million, or 16 cents, on revenue of $717.4 million the previous year.

Revenue from HotJobs, the online job board Yahoo acquired in February, wasn't released, but Yahoo execs say its quarter-to-quarter revenue remains stable, and additional growth is expected for 2003 as Yahoo further integrates HotJobs' services. The company is also integrating a search service that it bought from Inktomi Corp. last month for $235 million.