Yahoo reported mixed financial results in the second quarter of 2013, with ad revenue declining but profits rising 46%, as the internet giant continues its fight back against the likes of Google and Facebook. The news comes as chief executive Marissa Mayer marked one year at the helm of Yahoo, embarking on a series of […]
Yahoo reported mixed financial results in the second quarter of 2013, with ad revenue declining but profits rising 46%, as the internet giant continues its fight back against the likes of Google and Facebook.
The news comes as chief executive Marissa Mayer marked one year at the helm of Yahoo, embarking on a series of acquisitions, while scaling back on less profitable areas and focusing on content, mobile and video.
The results were the first since the company acquired blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1bn (£73m) in June.
Profits were $331m, up 46% from the same time last year. The rise was due mostly to the company’s investment in Chinese ecommerce site Alibaba.
Display advertising revenue fell 13% in the quarter, while search revenue was down 9%.
Commenting on the results, Mayer said: “We reached a pace of launching a new product almost every week,” said Ms Mayer during a webcast to discuss the company’s earnings. As you can tell, we’ve been busy.”
According to research firm eMarketer, Yahoo’s share of global digital ad spending is expected to decline to 3.1% in 2013 from 3.37% last year.
In the US, eMarketer estimates that Yahoo’s share of US digital ad revenues will decline to 8% from 8.6% in 2012.
Yahoo bought nine technology start-ups in the past quarter, including Tumblr and Summly, bringing the total to 17 acquisitions under her watch.
Yahoo hopes this will diversify its base, attract engineering talent and boost company morale.
Mayer also mentioned an improved environment at the company, noting that in the second quarter, attrition – that is, employees leaving the company – declined by 59%.
She also noted that more than 12% of new hires in the past year were boomerangs – that is, people who left Yahoo only to come back.
