Internet service provider Livedoor Co. said Wednesday it posted 12.11 billion yen in group sales in the October-December first quarter of the current business year, up 283.4 percent over a year earlier, a result the company attributed to the rapid growth of the market for Internet-related services.

The three-month period coincided with huge media publicity about the company's plans to create a new professional baseball club.

Livedoor said pretax profit for the quarter grew 19.1 percent to 756 million yen and net profit rose 53.8 percent 455 million yen.

Livedoor released the quarterly earnings results a day after it announced the acquisition of a 35.0 percent stake in radio broadcaster Nippon Broadcasting System Inc., a core company of the Fujisankei Communications Group, for about 70 billion yen.