Youku Tudou Q3 Loss Narrows - Update

(RTTNews) - Youku Tudou Inc. (YOKU), the biggest online video company in China, Thursday reported a loss for the third quarter that narrowed from a year ago, due mainly to lower operating costs.

Youku Tudou, formed from merger of Youku and Tudou-- China's two largest online video websites, said revenues for the quarter dropped to 857.7 million renminbi from 1.16 billion renminbi last year. On a US dollar basis, revenues for the quarter was $140.2 million.

The company which generates majority of its revenues from advertising, said ad revenues for the quarter increased 3 percent over last year.

"We are happy that we grew the topline by a strong 14% quarter over quarter and our mobile traffic surged to over 300 million video views per day. We will continue to drive mobile monetization and ramp up revenue from local advertising clients, content marketing solutions and paid services," said Victor Koo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Youku Tudou.

Nonetheless, Youku Tudou's bottom line has been in red since listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Although, Chinese internet market continues to grow, Youku Tudou's online video market now faces competition from other internet companies including Chinese search giant Baidu.

Beijing, China-based Youku Tudou reported a third-quarter loss of 218.6 million renminbi or 0.07 renminbi per share, as compared to last year's loss of 310.4 million renminbi or 0.14 renminbi per share last year. On a US dollar basis, loss for the quarter was $35.7 million or $0.01 per share.

Net loss per ADS for the quarter was 1.31 renminbi, compared to 2.54 renminbi last year.

Adjusted loss for the quarter was 159.6 million renminbi compared to 182.4 million renminbi last year.

Total operating expenses for the quarter dropped to 312.84 million renminbi from 529.7 million renminbi last year.

Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, the company has forecast revenues of 860 million to 900 million renminbi.

The company is expected to reach adjusted profitability in the fourth quarter of 2013.

YOKU closed Thursday's trading at $26.36, down $0.79 or 2.91%, on the NYSE. The stock, however gained $1.29 or 4.89% in after-hours trade.