On March 14th, Weibo released its financial reports for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Weibo achieved a revenue of 464 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3%; The adjusted net profit was $76.4 million, a significant decrease from $179 million in the same period last year.
In 2023, Weibo achieved a total revenue of 1.76 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. The adjusted net profit was 451 million US dollars, and the adjusted net profit for 2022 was 540 million US dollars.
The performance of Weibo is greatly influenced by the advertising industry. In 2023, Weibo's revenue from advertising and marketing business was 1.53 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 4%, accounting for approximately 87% of the total revenue. In the fourth quarter, Weibo's revenue from advertising and marketing business was $404 million, a year-on-year increase of 3%.
It can be seen that Weibo's advertising revenue in the fourth quarter has started to grow, outperforming the annual average performance. Regarding this, Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei also stated, "The advertising business performed steadily in the fourth quarter and is gradually recovering throughout the year."
In addition, in 2023, Weibo's revenue from value-added services was 226 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 6%. Among them, the value-added service revenue in the fourth quarter was $59.9 million, a year-on-year increase of 4%.
As of the end of the fourth quarter, the monthly active users on Weibo reached 598 million, a net increase of about 11 million year-on-year, and the daily active users reached 257 million, a net increase of about 5 million year-on-year.
For Weibo, continuously enhancing its content influence is the most core means to maintain user stickiness and attract advertisers. In the second half of last year, Weibo shifted its focus to supporting vertical traffic in areas such as digital, automotive, gaming, fashion and beauty, medical and health, based on the hot topics, entertainment, and event IP ecosystem.
Data shows that in 2023, the proportion of content in the vertical field of Weibo reached 41%, and the number of vertical creators increased by 14% year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the daily average vertical hot search traffic on Weibo increased by 82% year-on-year.
The growth of traffic in vertical fields has also effectively driven the recovery of advertising revenue. Weibo stated that the automotive and mobile phone industries maintained year-on-year growth in revenue in the fourth quarter, while the gaming and healthcare industries achieved significant double-digit year-on-year growth in revenue.
In addition, according to financial reports, after the Weibo board of directors approved a distribution plan for a total of $200 million in special cash dividends in May last year, in March 2024, the Weibo board of directors once again approved the distribution of $200 million in special cash dividends.
As of December 31, 2023, Weibo has a total of $3.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. As of the closing of the US stock market on March 13th, Weibo's stock price was $9.7 per share, with a total market value of approximately $2.35 billion. Affected by the financial report, Weibo's stock price rose by over 5% before trading.