Last night Yahoo posted (PDF) their 2007 first quarter earnings. Yahoo showed a decline in their profits by 11 percent. Revenue was up about 9 percent, excluding certain payments to partners. However, MarketWatch notes “the revenue Yahoo generates for every search using its Internet search engine dipped in the quarter by about 7%, contributing to the quarter’s less-than-expected profits.”
Let me now take you through some of the coverage on Yahoo’s earnings announcement.
Yahoo Ad System Fails to Lift Net from the Wall Street Journal explained the revenue decline, blamed it on the initial investments with Panama, but expects to see improvements due to Panama in the second quarter of this year.
Yahoo’s Earnings Are Down 11 Percent from the New York Times summarized the earnings statement and explained that the results “were in line with the company’s own forecasts but they fell short of analysts’ expectations and disappointed investors, who sent Yahoo shares tumbling nearly 8 percent in after-hours trading.”
Yahoo! Q1 2007 Earnings Call Transcript from SeekingAlpha has the full transcript of the earnings call.
Yahoo’s Next Search: A New CEO? from BusinessWeek ponders the future Terry Semel, CEO of Yahoo. The article explains, “an 11% decline in profits raises questions about Terry Semel’s longevity and overshadows the expansion of the search engine’s eBay partnership.”
For even more coverage, please see Techmeme.
Related Topics: Yahoo: Business Issues
This doesn’t surprise me, however they really need to look outside of investors to determine the cause of their consistent drop. In many of my blog comments throughout the blogsphere I’ve made it clear on my dislike for Yahoo. I have had the opportunity to deal with Tim Mayer as well as a representative from the search department at Yahoo to get a website that was banned back on to their SERPS. Although it was a successful battle, with Tims help, it was unfortunately the most disheartening experience I’ve ever encountered.
I’m still considering how to write an article discussing the issues I experienced through this ordeal, but I haven’t found a way to do it without showing my anger and disappointment in their staff.
Tim was exceptional, Google should hire him, he’s probably the one guy at Yahoo that knows what he’s doing and specifically understands customer service. The rest just seemed ignorant and unwilling, as if they were gods and therefore no one mattered. I’m just one person, but it’s nice to see that others are experiencing similar disappointments with them. It’s unfortunate however, that instead of trying something new they seem to be more about following Google. I’m not sure why they would feel the need to follow what Google is doing, they really should be more about being Yahoo and making it work.