Yahoo's profit jumped to $542m (£271m) during the first three months of 2008, compared with $142m reported in the same period last year.

Quarterly sales rose to $1.82bn, up from $1.67bn in 2007. The search giant's net revenue was $1.35bn, slightly surpassing the $1.32bn predicted by Wall Street.

Yahoo will hope that the solid figures will help to reinforce the value of its business in the light of an attempted acquisition by Microsoft. The search firm has until Saturday to give a final response to a $44.6bn takeover offer.

“Not only does Yahoo have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people," said chief executive Jerry Yang.

"It is the hard work, dedication and professionalism of our people that is our greatest asset – and this quarter’s performance demonstrates how well they can perform under unusually challenging circumstances.”

Yahoo previously wrote off Microsoft's bid as being undervalued, but the software giant has suggested it may attempt to incite a shareholder revolution if its offer is not accepted.