Yahoo's Q4 net income down 5 pct due to decline in ad-revenues

New York: Internet major Yahoo Inc has posted 5 percent drop in net income to $296 million in the October-December quarter of 2011 due to decline in advertising revenues.

In the year-ago period, the company had a net income of $312 million, Yahoo said in a statement.

The company's revenues declined by 13 percent from the year-ago period to $ 1.32 billion during the fourth quarter of 2011.

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"Yahoo continued to make progress in the quarter with operating income increasing 10 percent year over year," Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson said.

"In 2012 we will be aligning resources behind key areas of focus to enable us to move aggressively in market and grow our business, bringing innovative new products and experiences to both our users and advertisers," he added.

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Yahoo's display ad revenue, which is the primary source of income, totaled $ 612 million for the quarter, a 4 percent decrease from the year-ago period. Besides, search ad revenue fell by 27 percent to $ 465 million during the quarter. Out of total revenues generated through serach ad, $ 48 million came from its partnership with Microsoft.

For the full year ended December 31, 2011, Yahoo's net earnings was $ 1.04 billion compared to $ 1.23 billion in the preceding year.

Yahoo's revenue dropped about 5 percent to $4.4 billion in 2011 from $4.6 billion in 2010, "primarily due to the required change in revenue presentation related to the Search Agreement and the associated revenue share with

Microsoft."

Last week, Yahoo co-founder and former chief executive officer Jerry Yang resigned from Board of Directors and all other positions with the company.

PayPal President Thompson was appointed the new CEO succeeding interim CEO Timothy Morse, who took over the role after former CEO Carol Bartz was

fired early September 2011.

For the first quarter of 2012, Yahoo expects revenue in the range of $ 1.170 billion to $ 1.260 billion. Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs or TAC, which consists of payments to affiliates and payments made to companies that direct consumer and business traffic to Yahoo Properties, is projected between $1.02 billion and $1.10 billion during first quarter of this year.

PTI