Yahoo Revenues Flat for Q2 Amid CEO Hype
Despite a fresh face at the helm, Yahoo ad revenues were stagnant in Q2.
Another Yahoo earnings report, another CEO. Yahoo made a splash yesterday with the hire of Marissa Mayer as CEO, a well-respected tech product development exec from Google. Outside the embarrassing exodus of Yahoo’s previous CEO Scott Thompson, the news about Mayer was probably the most significant of Q2 2012. Yahoo’s ad revenue numbers for the quarter were less compelling.
Yahoo display revenues rose 2 percent year-over-year to $535 million. Yahoo pointed to particular growth in the Americas. “Pricing was a little softer than expected” for display, said Tim Morse, chief financial officer. Morse attributed the lower display ad prices to weakness primarily in Europe, and also noted, that “volume actually was a little better.”
Search revenues fell 1 percent from Q2 2011 to $461 million. In all, Yahoo reported revenues that were flat compared to Q2 2012, at $1.22 billion.
In May, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson resigned amid a scandal involving falsified academic credentials. Meantime, until the Mayer hire was revealed yesterday, former ad sales exec Ross Levinsohn served as interim CEO for the struggling firm. Mayer did not participate in an earnings call with investors this afternoon. In deference to the new CEO, Morse did not provide much forward-looking information during the call.
The Thompson brouhaha overshadowed Yahoo’s introduction of its data-driven ad management platform, Genome. The platform is now officially available.
Morse touted content partnerships with CNBC, EuroSport, and others that the company hopes will attract more users to Yahoo. He also suggested Yahoo will “take a leading position with online coverage” of the Olympics. The goal for Yahoo will be to turn those video and other content views into ad dollars.
