14 DAY TRIAL // Yahoo has revealed its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2009 and, while they're not exactly stellar, they're surprisingly optimistic, considering the circumstances. Yahoo posted a revenue increase of 10 percent from the previous quarter bringing in $1.7 billion in Q4. Still, this was 4 percent down from Q4 2008. Income, on the other hand, was at $119 million, on mark with analysts expectations, a huge improvement over the $278 million it lost in the same period of the previous year.
Net revenue, excluding advertisers commission, was at $1.258 billion, an 8 percent drop from 2008 but above the expectations which pegged it at $1.23 billion. For the entire year, revenue was at $6.46 billion, 10 percent drop from 2008 and net income at $598 million. As a result of the 'good news,' Yahoo stock went up three percent after the announcement.
“The fourth quarter marked a strong finish to 2009, which was a transformative year for Yahoo,” Carol Bartz, Yahoo CEO, said. “We beat the high end of our revenue guidance, saw demand for premium display advertising improve significantly, and grew Owned & Operated search advertising revenue sequentially for the first time since the third quarter of 2008."
“Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010,” she added. “We’re pleased that the midpoint of our Q1 revenue outlook marks the first quarter of year-over-year growth in six quarters.”
Search revenue was down 15 percent from a year ago, unsurprising given the steady loss of search market share, but was slightly up from Q3 2009. Display advertising revenue, Yahoo's bread and butter, was down 1 percent from 2008 but saw a huge rise from Q3 going from $399 million to $503 million in the last quarter of 2009.
In the conference call following the announcement, Yahoo also revealed some of its future plans. High on the agenda for 2010 are more acquisitions aimed at strengthening Yahoo's position in key markets. Further sales of some of its assets weren't excluded, but it won't be a focus in the coming year. Yahoo will also start hiring again, another sign that things are settling down.