Weibo swings to $7m first-quarter profit

Social media platform Weibo Corp posted a net profit of $7.1 million or $0.03 per share in the first quarter, from a year-earlier loss of $3.1 million, announced the company on Wednesday.

Social media platform Weibo Corp posted a net profit of $7.1 million or $0.03 per share in the first quarter, from a year-earlier loss of $3.1 million, announced the company on Wednesday.

The Twitter-like app saw revenue surge 24 percent year-on-year to $119.3 million in the first three months, exceeding its previous guidance between $111 million and $116 million.

The growth came as Weibo reported a 25 percent increase in advertising and marketing revenue to $99.2 million, compared to $79.2 million for the same period last year.

According to the quarter report, the microblog giant's monthly active users reached 261 million in March, up 32 percent year-on-year. Its daily active users averaged 120 million.

"Weibo had a strong first quarter with key accounts and SME advertising and marketing revenue together growing 97 percent and total advertisers reaching 832,000, up 1.14 times year-over-year," said CEO Gaofei Wang in a press release.

The company expects its second-quarter revenue between $138 million and $143 million.

Weibo rallied 3.6 percent to $23.08 per American depository share in after-hours trading.