Despite Panama, Yahoo Earnings Fall 11 Percent — Investments Blamed

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.