Adjusted EBITDA was $202.9 million or 32% of revenue, up 148% year over year. In earnings per share for the fourth quarter were .99 cents up 200% from the .33 cents recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013. We continue to be focused in our long term operating model while also making the investments required to consistently achieve it.
Let’s take a more detailed look at our performance for Q4. Our revenue growth for the quarter was driven primarily by a 68% year over year increase in the capture devices sold. During the quarter we shipped approximately 2.4 million capture devices to our retail and distribution partners throughout the world, with the vast majority being our newly launched Hero4 line of products. As Nick mentioned, we also achieved a remarkable milestone as we shipped on average over 1 thousand units per hour, every day of Q4.
[inaudible] across all regions with year over year on our revenue increases 78%, 72% and 69% in the Americas, EMEA and APAC respectively. EMEA and APAC sales were also [inaudible] which were our best selling products during the quarter on both revenue and unit basis. Overall AFPs in the quarter increased for both our capture devices and our stand alone accessories. Revenue from our direct sales channel increased 85% year over year to $391.6 million driven by strong sell through and sell in with our domestic and big box retailers. Sales to our distributors increased 61% year over year and made up 38% of our fourth quarter revenue.
Fourth quarter revenue by geography was as follows: Americas was $407.6 or 64% of revenue, EMEA was $163.9 million or 26% of our revenue and APAC was $62.4 million or 10% of revenue. EMEA and APAC regions combined made up 36% of Q4 revenue up 71% from Q4 2013 due to the strong sales of Hero4 products. This geographic mixed percentage of revenue was relatively in line with Q4 2013 and significantly up from the 27% recorded in Q3 of 2014. Fourth quarter gross margin increased 600 basis points and year over year and 350 basis points sequentially to 48% due primarily to favorable product and channel mix related to the holiday sales of our Hero4 products. This sequential improvement in gross margin percentage provided us an incremental .12 cents of quarterly EPS. Operating expenses of $111.1 million were up 43% year over year and 15% sequentially. Over 85% of the year over year increase in the operating expenses was on RND and sales in marketing, with RND being the largest area of growth.
We continue to aggressively invest in new capture devices and our software platforms to enable improved user experience and future [inaudible] of content. GAAP net income for the quarter was $122.3 million or .83 cents per diluted share and this compares with GAAP net income of $43.7 million or .33 cents per diluted share for Q4 2013. Turning the balance sheet, we ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $422.3 million, up $184.5 million sequentially due primarily to net proceeds received from our [inaudible] and cash from operations. During 2014 our cash balances increased over 300% to $422 million. A cash receivable of $184 million increased $61.3 million or 50% compared with Q4 of 2013 with a corresponding DSO decrease to 26 days from 30. Days of inventory decreased 6 days to 42 from 48 in Q4 of 2013 and during our fourth quarter our cash flow from operation was $43.2 million, our capital expenditures were $4.6 million and depreciation and [inaudible] was $5.2 million.
I’ll now move on to our guidance for the first quarter. After a very strong fourth quarter we’re also quite optimistic with our prospects as we enter this new year. We’ve been closely tracking our channel inventory levels and the initial full quarter of [inaudible]. We believe that the overall channel inventory levels are healthy going into Q1. We expect continued strong sell in and sell through in the first quarter as seasonally adjusted demand remains brisk. In the first quarter we anticipate revenue from our distribution channel will be particularly strong and geographic strength in both EMEA and APAC regions. As a result, we currently anticipate revenue of between of $330 and $340 million for the first quarter, representing a year over year increase of approximately $100 million or 42% at the mid point of this guidance.
