Advertising, First Quarter Earnings | featured news

Quick Take Facebook will release its Q1 2013 earnings on May 1. We expect healthy advertising revenue growth driven by improved mobile monetization and a growing user base. Margins will shrink due to higher headcount related costs and infrastructure investments. We’ll also look for any color on the success of Graph Search, which could be one of the key features of Facebook going forward. Facebook will report its Q1 2013 earnings on May 1. We expect to see mobile advertising results improve driven by the company’s efforts to integrate ads into its mobile platform.

Yahoo said its profit rose 36% as the struggling Internet pioneer showed signs of continuing its slow but steady rebound under Mayer. But its shares fell after-hours on signs of decay in sales of display ads.

Microsoft said Thursday that an accounting adjustment to reflect a weak online ad business led to its first quarterly loss in its 26 years as a public company. The software company had warned that it was taking a $6.2 billion charge because its 2007 purchase of online ad service aQuantive hasn't yielded the returns envisioned by management. The non-cash adjustment is something companies do when the value of their assets decline. Microsoft Corp. paid $6.3 billion for aQuantive, only to see rival Google Inc. expand its share of the online ad market.

An advertising industry group says revenue from Internet advertising in the U.S. hit $8.4 billion in the first three months of the year. That's the highest for the first quarter, up 15 percent from $7.3 billion in the same period last year.

Shares of online marketing services provider ValueClick are taking a beating after hours Wednesday following the company's Q1 financial report. ValueClick posted revenue of $152.9 million, up 31% from a year ago, but below the Street consensus at $157.8 million. Guidance had been for $155 million to $160 million.

The New York Times Company reported that first-quarter net income dropped 57.6 percent, to $5.4 million, as print advertising remained depressed and About.com revenue fell.