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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 11, 2002

Yahoo! surpasses forecasts

By Brian Bergstein
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Internet bellwether Yahoo! Inc. posted a net loss for the sixth quarter in a row yesterday but beat revenue forecasts and said its turnaround plan remains on track as it aims to tap new sources of revenue beyond advertising.

In the first three months of the year, Yahoo! lost $53.6 million, or 9 cents per share, on $192.7 million in revenue.

In the first quarter of 2001, the Sunnyvale-based company lost $11.5 million, or 2 cents per share, on sales of $180.2 million.

But excluding a one-time adjustment to earnings because of a change in accounting methods, the Internet portal said it would have shown a net profit of $10.5 million, or 2 cents per share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call were expecting 2 cents per share, though Yahoo blew past the revenue forecast of $175 million.

After seeing its fortunes plunge in the dot-com bust, Yahoo! pledged to reduce its reliance on ads, which once made up 90 percent of its revenues.

In recent months, the company has made dozens of refinements to its site to attract new users and new sources of income.

Those range from small steps, such as charging people for automatic forwarding of Yahoo! e-mails, to bigger moves like the acquisition of HotJobs.com, a career-placement site.

In part because of an expected boost from HotJobs, Yahoo! said it expects revenue in the current quarter to be between $205 million and $225 million, with sales for the full year of $870 million and $910 million.

Both figures are well ahead of current analysts' projections.

Yahoo! stock shares fell 2 cents to $18.44 on the Nasdaq market before the earnings report was released.

The stock fell to $18.20 early in the extended session.