Cries of Yahoo as net firm is set to recover
INTERNET company Yahoo said yesterday the start of 2010 could see revenues grow for the first time in more than a year as it posted fourth quarter results in line with Wall Street expectations.
Remarking that demand for display advertising had picked up, chief executive Carol Bartz said: “Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010.”
Revenue expansion for the first quarter this year would mark the first growth in six quarters.
The prediction came as the California-based technology outfit reported net income of $153m (£95m) for the three months to December or 11c cents per share, compared with a net loss of $303m the same time a year ago after severe write-downs and restructuring charges. Fourth quarter revenue fell four per cent year-on-year to $1.7bn. Revenue from display advertising was up 26 per cent from the third quarter, the company said. However, in the search engine space Yahoo continued to lag far behind Google, with revenue from that area rising four per cent quarter-on-quarter. The results constituted the best performance from Yahoo since Bartz arrived as CEO 12 months ago.
The company’s shares rose 2.2 per cent in after-hours trading. Primary Global Research analyst Laxmi Poruri said: “Yahoo will rise with the tide if the tide rises in terms of spending online. I think the fourth quarter was probably a decent quarter for them.”