Mail.ru Group recently reported a fiscal year revenue growth of 63,5% in 2010, reaching $324M. The Group's net profit was reported to be $76.7M, up from $47.2M in 2009. Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and CEO, explained that the growing revenues came as a result of the Group's ability to benefit from a growing potential and engagement in the Russian Internet market. Other likely reasons are the general economic recovery and a strong shift among advertisers towards online ads, which were the biggest source of Mail.ru Group's revenue. They made up $124M of the overall sum (up from $75.9M in 2009). MMO games brought in almost a third of the overall revenue - a whopping $99.8M, up from $61.4 in 2009.The overall number of unique monthly visits to Mail.ru Group's properties amounted to 27,2M in December 2010, 21% more than in 2009 but still slightly less than Yandex got that year.

Mail.ru Group expects an even more successful 2011 as Internet penetration and online advertising are set to grow further. New users join Internet almost daily and a lot of Mail.ru Group's properties are the first pages they visit. Plus, a lot of those websites engage users for a long period of time, bringing all the more incentive for advertisers to buy online ads. As it gets easier to pay for online goods, monetizing Runet would become an ever more profitable affair.

So far online advertising and gaming are the most lucrative areas in Runet. E-commerce is also a growing trend, though Mail.ru Group is not a dominant player in that field. Perhaps that is new area of growth that the Group would pursue this year.

Below is the detailed report of Mail.ru Group's revenue for 2010 and 2009: