Yahoo still in sales rut as CEO Marissa Mayer unable to rev company engines

“Yahoo! on Tuesday said it will sell about one-third fewer Alibaba shares than expected — but even this shareholder-friendly news wasn’t enough to deodorize an otherwise stinky quarter,” Kaja Whitehouse reports for The New York Post.

“The Web portal reported that revenue minus traffic acquisition costs for the second quarter fell 3 percent from last year — well below analysts’ already dampened expectations for a gain of 8 percent,” Whitehouse reports. “Net earnings of 37 cents a share were up 5 percent from last year, but also fell short of expectations for 38 cents — minus commissions paid to partners for Web traffic.”

“Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s surprise gift to shareholders of the additional Alibaba shares briefly pushed Yahoo! shares up in after-hours trading — but once the quarterly results were more fully digested, shares dipped 2.2 percent,” Whitehouse reports. “‘We are not satisfied with our results this past quarter,’ Mayer said on a conference call to discuss results.”

“She said she expects the issues to be fixed in the next two quarters, but made investors jittery with her prediction for a years-long revamp of the entire company,” Whitehouse reports. “‘A transformation of this size and scale will take multiple years,’ Mayer warned on the conference call.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yahoo’s engines, maybe not, but…

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Matthew R.” for the heads up.]