For the third quarter, Yahoo reported revenue of US$1.23 billion, compared with US$1.15 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Mavens revenue represented 38 percent of traffic-driven revenue in the third quarter of 2015 against 29 percent in the third quarter of 2014.
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Mayer, a top Google executive until defecting to Yahoo in 2012, announced the two companies had reached a three-year deal to work together in Internet search and advertising.
CEO Marissa Mayer, whose campaign to turnaround Yahoo’s sagging fortunes is hitting increasing turbulence, said Yahoo’s Q3 revenue rose 6.8 percent, or to $1.226 billion from $1.148 billion. The company, which has invested heavily in original Web content, such as the Community series, said it was taking a US$42 million write-off in the third quarter on the value of its video assets.
Yahoo’s gross search revenue increased 2% year over year to $870 million, while GAAP search revenue rose 13% to $509 million. Practically conceding defeat in its native advertising business, Yahoo has inked a deal that will let it earn an percentage of revenue harvested from ads that are displayed on its site.
Display revenue was up 14 percent, also at $509 million. The number of Ads Sold increased approximately 8 percent.
Yahoo has been fighting to improve revenue from ad sales in the face of stiff competition from Google and Facebook (FB.O).
Yahoo continues its efforts in trying to make itself more attractive to advertisers, but those efforts, thus far, appear to be stagnant.
Last year’s profit included proceeds of $6.3 billion, net of tax, from the sale shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N). Profit, excluding a few costs, was 15 cents a share, compared with the analysts’ average estimate of 16 cents.
Yahoo chief financial officer Ken Goldman tried to play off the missed targets, defending in the report that the search company is “pleased with our financial flexibility and strong balance sheet”.
Yahoo has begun several initiatives in recent months. “The Yahoo Gemini platform is really where we want to invest, particularly on mobile in new formats, new ideas”, Mayer said. Google’s offerings complement the search services provided by Microsoft, which remains a partner, as well as Yahoo’s own search technologies and ad products such as Yahoo Gemini.
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Yahoo in July formally notified USA regulators that it is spinning off its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to an independent new company called Aabaco Holdings.
