Yandex reports 22% YoY increase in revenue for Q4 2016

Yandex earned $364.7 million — or, 22.1 billion rubles — during the last quarter of 2016. According to its recently released Q4 2016 earnings report, the Russian search engine saw a 22 percent year-over-year increase in revenue compared to Q4 2015.

For the year, Yandex brought in $1.2 billion in revenue (RUB 75.9B), up 27 percent over 2017 — but net income was down 30 percent at $111.8 million (RUB 6.8 billion).

“We were pleased with the strong growth in Q4, especially given tough comparisons with last year,” says Yandex COO Alexander Shulgin. The COO noted Yandex.Taxi as a “real highlight” during the company’s year, with the online taxi booking service ride volume up over 400 percent compared to the last quarter of 2015.

“Based on the potential we see in Taxi, E-commerce and Classifieds, we will continue to invest for growth in 2017,” says Shulgin.

As Russia’s largest search engine, the company says it averaged a 55.4 percent share of the Russian search market during Q4, with search queries up three percent year-over-year compared to Q4 2015.

Yandex’s search ad business was up as well. Paid clicks on the search engine and its partners’ websites grew 12 percent year over year. Online ad revenues were up 20 percent during the last quarter of the year compared to Q4 2015 and accounted for 95 percent of the company’s total revenue.

Here’s a breakdown of Yandex’s online ad revenue for Q4 2016:

Shulgin also commented on the company’s commitment to its technology stack.

“Our deep experience with AI and machine learning is enabling us to make significant advancements in advertising technologies and continually enhance user experience,” said the COO, noting that revenue growth in 2016 was driven by Yandex’s improvements to macro conditions and continued innovation.