Daum Communications Corp., the operator of Korea’s second-most visited search engine, said Tuesday that its earnings almost quadrupled last year from a year earlier on increased ad-based revenue.

Net profit reached 112 billion won ($99.7 million) last year, compared with 31 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales soared 44 percent on-year to a record 346 billion won last year, and operating income more than doubled on-year to 97.9 billion won over the cited period, it said.

Sales of search-based ads surged 44 percent on-year to 179 billion won last year, and sales of targeted display advertising gained 43 percent to 149 billion won, Daum said.

Its fourth-quarter net profit also more than doubled from a year earlier to 20 billion won on sales of 101 billion won. 

(Yonhap News)