Even though Youku Tudou (NYSE: YOKU) beat expectations, the market shot shares down as much as 19% in after-hours trading. The company crushed analysts' estimated losses of $0.96 and $3.75, per ADS, with $0.11 and $0.51 for the quarter and year, respectively; but as earnings were still in the red, the stock followed suit.
After Youku completed its merger with Tudou on Aug. 23, 2012, Tudou's financial results were consolidated with Youku's for the quarter and year.
In Q4 2012, the company raked in net revenues of $102.1 million (RMB635.8 milllion), a 30% increased compared to combined revenues over the same period last year. Similarly, net losses improved. The company saw a 43% decrease from the combined net loss over the same period, losing only $18.2 million (RMB113.6 million).
According to President Dele Liu:
In terms of cost structure, the fourth quarter results reflect early synergies resulting from the merger, especially in bandwidth and personnel related expenses. We expect this trend to continue into 2013, supported by the overall improvement of our unit economics due to the ongoing growth in traffic, especially the significant growth from mobile devices.
For FY2012, net revenues were $288.2 million (RMB1.8 billion),while net loss totaled US$68.1 million (RMB424.0 million).
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Victor Koo said he was pleased with company's performance:
We managed solid revenue growth and the net loss for the combined company has narrowed materially despite sales disruption brought on by the reorganization of our sales team after the merger.
For 2013, CEO Koo added that he expects the large-scale merger to continue to affect the company's finances, but, by the second half of 2013, the company should see a growth in momentum and cost synergies.
