Yahoo! posts! record! quarter!

Advertising money is coming back, and Yahoo! could not be more excited, as the company hit record profit marks in its second quarter.

Yahoo saw revenue rise to $321.4 million in the period ended June 30. This is a 42 percent jump over the $225.8 million posted in the same quarter a year ago and marks the most revenue for a quarter in company history. Income rose as well, hitting $62.8 million compared to $7.5 million in last year's second quarter.

What is behind sudden revenue surge?

"Some of the key drivers of success this quarter include more balanced growth in marketing services, from both traditional advertising and sponsored search, as well as ongoing success in converting consumers and small businesses to fee-based services," said Terry Semel, CEO at Yahoo!, in a statement.

True to Semel's words, marketing services did provide a nice boost in the quarter. Yahoo! pulled in $219 million in the business segment - a 44 percent increase year-on-year. Fees revenue also surged 43 percent to $69.9 million. The main drivers for this increase came from Yahoo!'s DSL partnership with SBC and its personals service. The Web casting business declined.

Yahoo! is so bullish about recent trends that is has raised guidance for the entire fiscal year. The company now expects to post revenue between $1.26 billion and $1.31 billion for 2003 - up from a range of $1.14 billion to $1.21 billion.

Shares of Yahoo! closed up a half percent at $35.29 at the end of Wednesday's trading. ®