by Jason Wilk on April 21, 2009
- Yahoo today reported revenues of $1,580 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a decrease of 13% from the first quarter of 2008. Excluding the impact of currency rate fluctuations, revenues for the first quarter of 2009 would have declined 8 percent from the first quarter of 2008. From the press release:
Marketing services revenues declined 12 percent and fees revenues declined 20 percent. As expected, revenues were reduced by the effects of currency rate fluctuations, the sale of Kelkoo and lower fees revenues from broadband partnerships, voice-over IP services and subscription music offerings. Excluding the effects of these items, revenues would have declined 3 percent. Net income per diluted share in the first quarter of 2009 was $0.08, compared to $0.37 in the first quarter of 2008. Net income for the first quarter of 2008 included a non-cash gain of $401 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, related to Alibaba Group’s initial public offering of Alibaba.com, net of tax. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share in the first quarter of 2009 was $0.15, compared to non-GAAP net income of $0.18 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share excludes stock-based compensation expense, costs for advisors, restructuring charges, net, and the non-cash gain related to Alibaba.com.
- Highlight for investors: This isn’t the prettiest quarter for Yahoo, but by no means is it time to jump ship. Yahoo is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but Bartz is steering the ship in the right direction. She is focusing on cost management; unloading useless properties, laying off and most importantly working on a deal with Microsoft (although not officially disclosed today). The Microsoft deal, could potentially save Yahoo 1.3B a year in revenue, which would have turned this bad quarter upside down. Also, take a look at Yahoo’s balance sheet. It is still strong, and as chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen says “we are continuing to generate free cash flow which provides us with the flexibility to make strategic investments in key talent, platforms, products and infrastructure, even during this economic downturn. We also are making selective adjustments to our spending to accelerate those strategic investments.” I see Yahoo at $20 by the end of the year.
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by Jason Wilk on April 21, 2009
- According to BoomTown, Microsoft and Yahoo are now “hot and heavy” in talks about a search and advertising partnership. Yahoo is said to be playing it a bit cooler than Microsoft who is aggressively pursuing opportunities to not take further losses in the search market. Depending on how Yahoo’s numbers look tomorrow, it is unsure if any official news will come out of Yahoo regarding a search deal. Rest assured, if numbers are in the gutter, investors will want to know the reality of the partnership talks, which analysts are claiming would save Yahoo in excess of $1.3B a year.
- Microsoft executives including an M&A and strategy exec, Charles Songhurst, and digital head (and also former Yahoo employee) Qi Lu, have been seen in Silicon Valley recently talking with Yahoo execs. Lu was a top search executive at Yahoo before jumping ship to Microsoft. He is said to be mostly in charge of mediating talks between the two giants. This deal WILL happen in 2009.
by Jason Wilk on March 19, 2009
- At a media conference in New York today, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said he expects to see fewer acquisitions in the next 9 months while the economy resettles, but he did say he would be open to discussing a search partnership with Yahoo’s new chief, Carol Bartz.
- Because valuations at this point in time are hard to assess, Ballmer said he preferred a search deal with Yahoo, but no outright acquisition. Bartz, in my eyes, has always been put in place at Yahoo to get back the original deal Microsoft offered last year. With no personal attachment to the company and Jerry Yang almost out of the picture, a search deal by the end of the year, followed by a 2010 acquisition by Microsoft seems entirely feasible.
- Yahoo search market share has been declining for the past 24 months, so striking a deal soon would be in the best interest of Bartz, who is not exactly an expert in the field of turning around a search brand. From radio ads, to billboards, Yahoo can’t seem to find a break. What is in Yahoo’s corner is the fact that Microsoft’s search market share has been declining as well, making the no. 2 search company in the US an even more prime target for Microsoft who is desperate not to be left in the dust when it comes to the search game. Microsoft wants a search partnership with Yahoo in order to get bigger in the search business, but as we’ve seen with Google, being a big player in search can lead to the success of so many other cloud based products and revenue drivers. I still have a hunch that Microsoft’s 2009 launch of Kumo.com, the rebranded LiveSearch, will have something to do with a Yahoo co-brand. At the end of the day, a search partnership can do nothing but help each of the compaies and provide another avevnue to sell advertisements. As with my 2009 predictions for the tech sector, a Yahoo-Microsoft partnership is a top 5 contender.
by Jason Wilk on March 2, 2009
- A court in Belgium, today found Internet company Yahoo guilty of withholding personal account information linked to Yahoo e-mail addresses in a cyber-criminal investigation. Belgian authorities subpoenaed detailed account data for a number of e-mail addresses used by a gang of alleged internet cons The court told the company to cough up a €55,000 fine right away and an additional €10,000 for each day it keeps refusing to hand over the user data. (or $69,197 and $12,590, respectively)
Here is Yahoo’s statement:
We strongly disagree with the court’s ruling and plan to file an immediate appeal.
Yahoo! Inc., a U.S. corporation, does not have business operations in Belgium and does not maintain the customer information at issue in Belgium. The United States and Belgium have a formal international treaty which the prosecutor should have followed to properly seek information from a U.S. company.
Yahoo! is not withholding information from the Belgium government. We have a legal and policy basis for not disclosing information in this type of case until the recognized international legal process is followed. We have raised this issue with the U.S. Government.
This decision could have negative implications for all foreign companies by unduly expanding the application of a law that should not apply to a company organized outside of Belgium and without a presence in Belgium.
Thanks Robin @ TechCrunch.
by David Heyerman on February 11, 2009
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