DHAKA: Yahoo’s profits more than doubled in the last three months, a boost for the beleaguered firm whose plan to sell its core business was thrown into doubt.

Verizon Communications agreed to buy Yahoo for $4.8bn, but disclosure of a huge data breach put a question mark over the deal.

In the quarter to 30 September, Yahoo’s profits rose to $163m, from $76.3m last year, on revenue up 6.5% to $1.3bn.

Chief executive Marissa Mayer said the figures underlined Yahoo's value.

“We remain very confident, not only in the value of our business, but also in the value Yahoo products bring to our users’ lives,” she said in a statement, reports the BBC.

Revenues from mobile operations during the quarter reached $396m, up from $271m the previous year.

“We launched several new products and showed solid financial performance across the board,” Mayer said.

The results, the first financial update since Yahoo and Verizon announced their deal, beat most analysts’ forecasts.

Yahoo’s shares rose 1.3% in after-market trading on Wall Street, which analysts said reflected confidence that the data breach had not sparked a mass exodus of users of the firm’s email system.

Yahoo disclosed last month that a hack affected about 500 million user accounts. Verizon said subsequently that the news could have a “material impact” on its plan to buy the company.

Mayer said on Tuesday: “We’re working hard to retain (users’) trust and are heartened by their continued loyalty as seen in our user engagement trends”.

BDST: 2002 HRS, OCT 19, 2016
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