14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2013, but managed once more to miss Wall Street expectations.
According to the company’s report, the revenue levels reached $1.04 billion (€768 million) and non-GAAP earnings per share stood at $0.37 (€0.27).
While the results may have been slightly below what analysts were expecting, the worst part is that the results were massively under the ones announced last year. For instance, revenue dropped 4 percent, while GAAP income from operations dropped 72 percent.
“Our top priority is revenue growth and by that measure, we are not satisfied with our Q2 results. While several areas showed strength, their growth was offset by declines. Yahoo Search, for example, had a strong quarter, growing 6% year-over-year on a revenue ex-TAC basis and 19% year-over-year in search click-driven revenue,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
“Our social, mobile, video and native areas also grew with significant momentum, collectively gaining nearly 90% year-over-year. However, display remains an area of investment and transition. In Q2, we saw display revenue decline, further highlighting the fact that we need to work faster to ameliorate the negative trends. I believe we can and will do better moving forward,” she added.
Even so, Mayer remains confident in the company’s future, the strategy and the return to long-term growth.
The company also reported a display revenue of $436 million (€322.1 million) for the second quarter, eight percent less than the same time period of 2013. The number of ads sold by Yahoo increased by 24 percent, however, while the price per ad dropped approximately 24 percent in comparison with the same quarter of 2013.
While Marissa Mayer expressed her disappointment with the financial results of the company, she did point out that a transformation the size of what Yahoo is going through will take multiple years. This means that things are probably not going to get better for the company anytime soon.
In the past couple of years, Yahoo has shut down some 60 different products and services, while the resources attributed to these were redirected to products that are fundamental to the company’s vision for growth.
During the analyst call, Mayer also kept saying that Yahoo sees more than 450 million monthly active users, which is a first for the company.
The CEO also said that Yahoo can provide a unified approach to advertising, so this side of the company will likely grow in the future.