Yahoo CFO is 'pleased' after profits drop only 26 per cent

FLOUNDERING INTERNET PORTAL Yahoo has announced a lacklustre set of third quarter financial results, revealing a 26 per cent drop in profits.

Yahoo, which is currently CEO-less and the focus of takeover rumours, revealed that its generally accepted accounting practices (GAAP) revenue fell to $1.2bn in the third quarter, a 24 per cent drop from the same quarter last year. If that wasn't bad enough, profits fell by 26 per cent to $293m from the same quarter in 2010.

Tim Morse, CFO and currently the CEO of Yahoo somehow managed to come up with optimistic words regarding the results, saying, "We're pleased that revenue, operating income and EPS were all above consensus this quarter." Given that every single figure on Yahoo's press release showed a negative percentage, perhaps Morse's seemingly incredible comment gives some credence to ex-CEO Carol Bartz's claim that Yahoo's board are "doofuses".

Yahoo reported that Microsoft reimbursed Yahoo to the tune of $53m as part of its search agreement, a figure the firm claims covers all of its search operating costs. As more and more of the internet search business heads in Microsoft's direction, Yahoo expects to receive less money from Microsoft.

Yahoo's share price had already dropped on Tuesday prior to the company announcing its financials. Presently the company is valued at $19.5bn, but its falling revenues and profits after Google just announced bumper profits highlight how much work any potential buyer will have cut out for it to get Yahoo into shape if it wants to compete with Google. µ