Continue reading Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees

Yahoo! Lays Off 600 Employees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo (YHOO) released third-quarter numbers after the bell on Tuesday, and they didn't do anything for the stock. Shares closed the regular session down 2.7% to $15.49. During the extended-hours period, I saw a quote go by of $15.53. That's right, the equity gained a measly four cents. Traders most certainly weren't applauding that performance.

Very recently, I wrote a bearish piece on the web portal. Since then, the stock has risen. Also, the company has been surrounded by some interesting speculation as of late regarding a potential takeover, with one theoretical scenario involving the owner of BloggingStocks, Aol (AOL).

Continue reading Yahoo! Earnings: Q3 Wasn't Very Exciting

Yahoo! Earnings: Q3 Wasn't Very Exciting originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Although indoctrinated Yahoo! (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz is a sharp-tongued devil when it comes to dealing with the media, sometimes that is not a good thing.

Bartz was recently asked what Yahoo! was. Take a deep breath:

Continue reading What Is Yahoo! -- And Where Is It Going?

What Is Yahoo! -- And Where Is It Going? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) is continuing its transformation from an old-school internet portal to a destination for all types of original and unique content -- along with all the ad inventory that also brings. Its latest prize: the announced acquisition of Associated Content -- a network with 380,000 content contributors.

Yahoo! will now have a small army -- make that a large one -- of freelance contributors that should help spice up Yahoo!'s content offerings across the board. This follows along the lines of the social media explosion in the last 18 months; Yahoo!'s staple of offering news and content from an array of professional publishers is no longer sufficient. The $100 million it will cost to add Associated Content under its fold will most likely come back in less than two years in ad sales from that network alone. This is a smart play By Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz, but the market did not agree, pushing down YHOO shares every day since the announcement this week.

Continue reading Yahoo! Snaps Up Associated Content, Adds Freelance Content to Its Network

Yahoo! Snaps Up Associated Content, Adds Freelance Content to Its Network originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 May 2010 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I'm not the biggest Yahoo! (YHOO) fan, but I concede that the stock's bias over the last twelve months has been to move higher. At times, it has been a good trade for many market players. Tuesday, the portal issued its first-quarter earnings at the close of the regular session. Is the stock a buy or a sell after the news?

Well, if you go by the after-hours price action, you'd have to opt for sell. The shares shed 3.5% of their value once the market digested the data. But that's just an initial reaction, of course. Wednesday's price action may tell a different tale.

Continue reading Yahoo!: Solid Buy After Q1 or Just a Trading Vehicle?

Yahoo!: Solid Buy After Q1 or Just a Trading Vehicle? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), still is getting her company together to capitalize on the internet pioneer's huge global brand and leading customer visit numbers. Many in the analysis and tech/internet world have written off Yahoo! as a stodgy company that once owned the internet but has lost its way. Indeed, YHOO shares have flirted with the $20 mark in the last year, but were at a low of $15 in December and have not consistently cracked $20 in over a year. Would you buy it?

Continue reading Is Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz Following the Steve Jobs' Recipe for a Turnaround?

Is Yahoo!'s Carol Bartz Following the Steve Jobs' Recipe for a Turnaround? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is Yahoo!'s grip on the internet slipping? No sooner does this writer tackle that ongoing question than the company's top moneymaker announces she's resigning.

Yahoo!'s Joanne Bradford has announced that she's leaving the stagnant internet company for Demand Media. Seeing as though Bradford was going to be a key player in Yahoo!'s burgeoning partnership with Microsoft (MSFT), this leaves yet another gaping hole in Yahoo!'s revenue strategy.

Continue reading Yahoo!'s Top Ad Executive Leaving for Demand Media

Yahoo!'s Top Ad Executive Leaving for Demand Media originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo!'s Competitive Strength Weakening; Is Bartz's Plan Not Working?

Yahoo!'s Competitive Strength Weakening; Is Bartz's Plan Not Working? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since Carol Bartz was announced as the incoming CEO of Yahoo! (YHOO) on Jan. 13, 2009, shares of the Internet giant have risen from $12.10 per share to their current price of $16.70 -- a gain of 38% in a little less than a year, and a nice rebound from what had been a multiyear tailspin for shareholders, but still lagging significantly behind peers.

So how does Bartz rate her performance? In an interview with Bloomberg, she gave herself a B-, saying that "It was a little tougher internally than I think I had anticipated. I did move fast, but this is a big job."

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Gives Herself a B- for Her First Year

Yahoo! CEO Gives Herself a B- for Her First Year originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carl Icahn, the famous activist investor, resigned from the Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors Friday.

This comes just over a year after he scored the position, following the seemingly endless talks the company had with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) over the possibility of a takeover. Icahn told Yahoo that he was resigning effective immediately because Yahoo! didn't need an activist investor on the board at this time.

Continue reading Icahn bails from Yahoo! board of directors

Icahn bails from Yahoo! board of directors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) will be spending $100 million to market its new ... nothing. The internet pioneer who wants out of the tech biz and solely into the media biz (sounds like the Terry Semel days) will spend that sum over the next 15 months to gain new customers to its plethora of web properties and keep them there as long as possible (and charger advertisers appropriately).

What is new about this? From initial review, nothing. Yahoo! has always wanted to gain customers to its extensive internet collection and keep them there. What's so compelling a change that it's worth $100 million? So far, nothing this writer can determine. Just using Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing search services across all its properties is surely not a compelling reason.

Continue reading Yahoo! to spend $100 million on new ad campaign -- and crosses fingers

Yahoo! to spend $100 million on new ad campaign -- and crosses fingers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Since coming on board Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) early this year, Carol Bartz has wasted little time in making changes. Part of the strategy is to get the company more focused.

So, it looks like Yahoo! is in the process of selling its small business unit. All in all, it's a good asset, with web hosting, domain name services, and merchant accounts. The deal may also include the HotJobs division.

Continue reading Yahoo! seeks to unload small biz assets

Yahoo! seeks to unload small biz assets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Bartz hints at a possible Microsoft deal - again

Yahoo! CEO Bartz hints at a possible Microsoft deal - again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 28 May 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), a web portal whose colleagues include Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, reported Q1 numbers after the bell on Tuesday. According to an earnings preview done by colleague Mark Fightmaster, Wall Street was counting on something along the lines of 8 cents per share. Well, on a non-GAAP basis, Yahoo! earned 15 cents per share. Not bad.

Unfortunately, Yahoo! made three pennies more on the same adjusted basis in last year's similar quarter. Furthermore, revenues, adjusted for currency effects, dropped 8%. Oh, and one more thing. Free cash flow decreased over 60%.

Continue reading Can Yahoo!'s cursing CEO lead the company to victory?

Can Yahoo!'s cursing CEO lead the company to victory? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A Yahoo spokesman declined to comment, but reports indicate that the payroll cuts could be announced next Tuesday, April 21, when the Internet portal is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings results. Since she first joined the company in January, Ms. Bartz has made it clear that serious restructuring efforts would be necessary to repair Yahoo's struggling business.

Continue reading Will Yahoo! report fresh job cuts along with first-quarter earnings?

Will Yahoo! report fresh job cuts along with first-quarter earnings? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz may be starting to give Yahoo!'s mobile offerings the attention they deserve after former CEO and company co-founder Jerry Yang treated mobile like an "isolated startup." Although Yahoo!'s presence in the mobile internet market has been respectable recently, that doesn't mean that it's been completed integrated with Yahoo!'s nonmobile universe.

Instead of taking its brands and products to the mobile web and handset application arena, Yahoo! has developed very cool but isolated products for the mobile universe. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), on the other hand, has taken its enormously-popular web-based products and has ported them better and better to the mobile web.

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Bartz keeps eye on mobile offerings

Yahoo! CEO Bartz keeps eye on mobile offerings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 28 Mar 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), has no qualms about executive transparency. During an appearance Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley Tech Conference in San Francisco, Bartz confessed that she doesn't use Yahoo's mapping functionality. "I use Google Maps," she admitted. Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen tried to defer the potential PR problem by explaining that Yahoo Maps has been placed on the back burner, since it's so expensive to invest in the product.

Yahoo Maps isn't the only weakness Bartz noted. Though she said it's "very clear" that Yahoo needs to dive into the social networking arena, the CEO floated the idea of a partnership with an existing company, rather than the launch of a brand-new product. "I do not believe we can invent the next Facebook," she explained.

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz prefers Google Maps

Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz prefers Google Maps originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! sees five straight months of internet search gains

Yahoo! sees five straight months of internet search gains originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), which competes with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL, reported Q4 stats after the bell on Tuesday. They were pretty dismal, but expectations were bea t. Revenues dipped by 1%, and earnings per share on an adjusted basis were $0.17. According to Wall Street's view, Yahoo! was only supposed to earn $0.13. A four-penny beat on the bottom line is a pretty good thing.

Or is it in this case? I would argue it's no big deal. I mean, we are talking about Yahoo! here, and there's a new CEO on the job, Carol Bartz. She replaced the disaster known as Jerry Yang. Considering that there's a new regime, you can't really rely on this beat as a proper indicator for what's to come.

Continue reading Can the new CEO change things at Yahoo!?

Can the new CEO change things at Yahoo!? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! freezes raises in 2009 as cost-cutting continues originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.