Yahoo shares fall on company's uncertain outlook
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Shares of Yahoo Inc  fell nearly 9 percent on Wednesday after the Internet company predicted a tough 2008 amid a weakening U.S. economy.
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Microsoft&#39;s offer Friday to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion in cash and shares put a turbulent end to a heavy earnings week in which forecasts from Internet leaders worried IT investors.
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Yahoo shares slump 13% after the search firm says weaker financial and car advertising will affect quarterly revenues.
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Yahoo Inc. warned yesterday that slowing advertising growth would depress its third-quarter results.
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Yahoo Inc.'s second-profit slipped slightly while revenue growth remained lackluster, extending a malaise that prompted the Internet icon to replace its chief executive recently.
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By Tony Glover Technology Editor  YAHOO's profits warning last week sent shock waves through the entire internet  sector, leading some investors wondering if the glory days of search-orientated internet companies like Yahoo and Google are nearing their end.
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Stock index futures dipped on Wednesday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the session and after Yahoo Inc  forecast 2008 revenue below expectations.
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Microsoft&#39;s offer Friday to buy Yahoo&#160;for $44.6 billion in cash and shares put a turbulent end to a heavy earnings week in which forecasts from Internet leaders worried IT investors.Internet leaders Google, Yahoo, and Amazon and a host of high-profile technology vendors this week reported fourth-quarter sales and generally muted forecasts for the next few quarters.Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer&#39;s offer letter to Yahoo&#39;s board of directors&#160;on Thursday went public Friday morning, having an immediate effect on company share prices. The offer represents a 62 percent premium over Yahoo&#39;s closing price on Thursday. In premarket trading, Yahoo shares skyrocketed. Shares closed at $28.38, up by $9.20, or 47.97 percent.Though most analysts said the deal would not likely hurt Google in the short term, Google shares closed down by $48.40, at $515.90. Shares of Microsoft, which has never done a deal this size, were down by $2.15, closing at $30.45.Considering Yahoo&#39;s likely earnings and share price increases without an acquisition, for the price Microsoft is willing to pay, the offer &quot;seems like a great deal,&quot; said Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney in a research note.The proposal capped off a heavy earnings-report week. Though sales for the fourth quarter generally were strong, key companies, including Google and high-flying virtualization technology vendor VMware, fell short of analyst expectations.In the current economic climate in the United States, where many analysts are predicting a recession, market watchers pounce on bad news.Yahoo&#39;s fourth-quarter revenue increased, but profit fell to $206 million&#160;from $269 million one year earlier. During its financial conference call Wednesday, CEO Jerry Yang announced that the company would be laying off about 1,000 workers and talked about the U.S. economy hitting the company with &quot;headwinds.&quot;Analysts worry that the company&#39;s Panama search engine ad system, rolled out last year, has not had the positive effect that was expected. They also note that the company is vague about expected investments and that it is appearing to lose further ground to Google in the search market.In a research note, Citigroup Global Markets Equity Research downgraded its opinion on Yahoo from &quot;buy&quot; to &quot;hold.&quot; But after the Microsoft offer went public, Citigroup called the move &quot;a good fit to fix an ongoing issue.&quot;Though&#160;Google on Thursday reported a 51 percent year-on-year revenue increase&#160;to $4.83 billion for the quarter, earnings per share excluding certain items were $4.43, just below the $4.44 consensus analyst forecast. While most companies would be ecstatic to report such strong growth, the market had gotten used to Google continuing to blow past all expectations.Many market watchers take Google&#39;s miss as a sign that the faltering economy is braking the search giant. If consumers cut back spending, Google may experience a slackening in consumers&#39; desire to click on advertising. The company&#39;s continuing reliance on search revenue is bothering investors. That issue may be worrying investors more than potential competition with a merged Microsoft-Yahoo.One bright note for the week in the Internet sector was Amazon&#39;s earnings announcement on Wednesday. Amazon revenue grew 42 percent, to $5.67 billion, as income more than doubled, to $207 million. While the company&#39;s forecast for operating margins was lower than expected, its revenue forecast was higher than expected -- welcome news in a climate of worry.Then on Thursday,&#160;Amazon announced it would buy Audible.com , which sparked interest as the acquisition may help its battle against Apple in the market for spoken-word books, magazines, and radio programs. Amazon shares jumped by $3.49 to close at $77.70 Thursday, though they then drifted back down Friday.Outside the Internet arena, companies in a variety of sectors, including Lenovo, SAP, Verizon, and TSMC, reported strong fourth-quarter sales (though in SAP&#39;s case, profit was brought down by its acquisition of Business Objects). However, as usual in these times of economic uncertainty, it was&#160;VMware&#39;s disappointing quarter and weak forecast &#160;that captured the most attention.The company share price lost 34 percent of its value after VMware said Monday that revenue was $412.5 million, compared to analyst expectations of $417.4 million. Even though profit doubled, it was the revenue miss that had everyone nervous as hopes for the company were high after its red-hot IPO in December.&quot;The company&#39;s 2008 outlook suggests that low hanging fruit may have been picked and new customer signings could be slowing down,&quot; according to a UBS research note. This comment is probably right on the money. Most big-company CIOs consider server virtualization an obvious tactical move and have already implemented the technology.By market close Friday, excitement over the Microsoft offer for Yahoo may have helped push the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index into positive territory. It closed at 2413.36, up by 23.50. As economic uncertainty rules, however, IT investors are bracing for a bumpy ride over the next few quarters.
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Slumping Yahoo Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit dropped less than analysts feared, but management signaled the Internet icon's turnaround efforts may still take another year to pay off.
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Yahoo&#39;s fourth-quarter revenue grew, but net income fell as the struggling Internet giant tried to put its house in order and improve its ability to compete against Google and other rivals.Revenue for the period, ended Dec. 31, came in at $1.832 billion, up 8 percent compared with 2006&#39;s fourth quarter, the company said Tuesday. Subtracting the commission that Yahoo pays to sites in its advertising network, revenue was $1.403 billion, up 14 percent but missing the $1.406 billion consensus expectation from financial analysts polled by Thomson Financial.Meanwhile, net income fell to $206 million, or $0.15 per share, from $269 million, or $0.19 per share. On a pro forma basis, which includes one-time items, net income was $280 million, or $0.20 per share, down from $297 million, or $0.21 per share. Analysts expected Yahoo to post earnings per share of $0.11.Yahoo&#39;s statement doesn&#39;t mention staff reductions, which the company is rumored to be mulling. The company will most likely field questions about layoffs in its earnings-release conference call Tuesday afternoon.
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Yahoo Inc.'s rejection of Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited takeover bid left investors guessing the next move in a tense mating dance that may hatch a more imposing challenger to Google Inc. or disintegrate into a bruising brawl.
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SEATTLE/NEW YORK  - Yahoo Inc rejected Microsoft Corp's unsolicited $41.6 billion takeover offer as too low on Monday, forcing the software maker to either sweeten the bid or adopt a hostile approach to clinch a deal.
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Yahoo Inc.'s financial malaise dragged on during the second quarter as the Internet icon's profit slipped slightly and revenue growth lagged behind the pace of the online advertising market that it once led.
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Yahoo Inc  said it may take  "quite a bit of time" to weigh its strategic options, including  keeping the company independent, following Microsoft Corp's   $45 billion offer to buy the company.
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SANTA CLARA, California  - Yahoo Inc.  shareholders voted down proposals to tie executive pay to competitive performance and challenge the company's human rights policies in China at their annual meeting on Tuesday.
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Response to the planned acquisition ranges from skepticism about about Yahoo's capacity to serve enterprise customers and suspicion about Yahoo's plans for the Zimbra suite.
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Yahoo Inc.  reported a dip in quarterly profit on Tuesday as corporate advertisers spent less on its online ads, and the company gave a weaker-than-expected forecast for the rest of 2007.