(Reuters) - Yahoo reported modest revenue growth in the first three months of the year, as the Internet company stemmed a long-running decline in its display ad business.

Revenue, excluding fees paid to partner websites, was $1.087 billion in the first quarter compared to $1.074 billion in the year ago period. The company said it earned $311.6 million in first quarter net income, or 29 cents a share.

Revenue from display ads, which account for roughly 40 percent of Yahoo's overall revenue, increased 2 percent year-on-year to $453 million excluding partner fees. The modest increase follows several consecutive quarters of decline in Yahoo's display adbusiness.

Yahoo, which owns a 24 percent stake in Alibaba, had net income of $311.6 million, or 29 cents a share, in the first quarter. It earned 38 cents a share excluding certain items.

Alibaba's revenue grew 66 percent to $3.06 billion in the 2013 fourth quarter, according to slides that Yahoo posted on its investor relations website on Tuesday. Yahoo reports the Chinese company's financial results one quarter later than its own.

Alibaba, valued at more than $140 billion, is expected to go public later this year in the United States in the largest IPO since Facebook Inc's debut in 2012.

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