Yahoo on Tuesday reported that second-quarter profit rose 8 percent as cost-trimming enabled the Internet firm to offset sliding revenues.
Yahoo said its net income in the quarter ending June 30 was US$141 million, or US$0.10 per share, compared with US$131 million, or US$0.09 per share, in the same period last year.
But Yahoo also reported that revenue for the quarter slipped to US$1.14 billion from US$1.35 billion in the same quarter last year.
“I’m pleased with our results this past quarter,” said Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz. “We established a clear, simple vision to be the center of people’s lives online, and we’re backing that vision with important initiatives to create ‘wow’ experiences for our users.”
Yahoo stock price sank more than 3 percent to US$16.21 per share in after hours trading that followed release of the earnings figures.
In a conference call with analysts and reporters, Bartz said Yahoo will invest millions in products, engineers and promotions in the faith that eating into profit margins now will pay-off once the economy rebounds.
“There is certainly reason to believe that revenue will not stay flat forever,” Bartz said. “We’re going to get efficiency; we think revenue is going up.”
The release of the earnings figures came on the same day Yahoo began rolling out a promised major redesign of its homepage to revitalize its image and incorporate hot new online trends.
The debut of the promised overhaul comes several months ahead of schedule and as speculation grows of renewed talks of an online search deal between Yahoo and global technology giant Microsoft.
Bartz did not comment on rumored talks with Microsoft regarding an online search advertising deal with the Redmond, Washington-based colossus. She gave her stamp of approval to Microsoft’s new Bing search engine.
“I think Bing is actually a good product,” Bartz said. “Microsoft deserves kudos for Bing.”
Bartz has stated publicly that she is open to a deal with Microsoft but that she believes Yahoo’s search business to be worth “boatloads of money.”
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