Yahoo Call: Yang: Pleased To Have Settled Proxy Contest; On Track Despite Distractions
This story was written by Joseph Weisenthal.
Work in progress The warning the precedes all conference calls is usually a short waste of time, but Yahoo's (NSDQ: YHOO) are actually worth noting, just cause there are so many and they're pretty real. Among them: uncertainty around the company's deal with Google (NSDQ: GOOG), customers accpetance of it, regulatory issues related to that deal, future arrangements with Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and the strength of the company's advertisers, among several other potential pitfalls.
Jerry Yang: "Thank you Marta, that's quite a disclaimer..." On yesterday's news: "Our board and management are pleased to have settled the proxy contest." The company looks forward to working with the new boardmembers. As for the last months, Yang talked up the company's performance in light of all surrounding issues."With all this playing out on virtually a daily basis, this company has (accomplished) a great deal." As for future deals: "We remain open to transactions that provide real value."
-- Query growth up more than 11 percent year-over-year
-- We're already the number two ad network in the US.
-- "In CPG (consumer packaged goods) and finance we saw demand for branded campaigns weaken." But, advertisers are switching to performance.
-- "We continue to recruit exceptional leaders our CTO Ari Balogh joined us in February. New industry leader coming to lead cloud computing.
Sue Decker: "Not withstanding a more difficult economic environment than anticipated, and the external swirl associated with Microsoft, we are on track..."
-- "Publishers are working with us to leverage the breadth of our online advertising assets across search and display." Yahoo has assets to deliver the right mix.
-- Referring to the program that has been known as AMP, but which changed must its name. "We're on track to commence a broader rollout beginning in Q3 the new platform will accelerate adoption of online media."
-- "In the second quarter, our query growth accelerated from the first quarter." Yahoo has gained share in two straight months.
-- Search innovations: Serach Monkey. Glue Page has already produced a lift in India. Volume is up 20 percent there already. BOSS.
-- RPS Growth: Minimum bid changes. I'm very happy to announce that the GAP 0&0 was up 19 percent, due to query growth and RPS up 5 percent. Internationally, RPS was up double digits. RPS growth is expected to accelerate.
-- "We've consistently embraced the idea of openness in advertising": Turner deal, Google deal, et. al. Those who can sell the volume best should.
-- "Goal is to grow display volume by 12 percent annually, and in Q2 we significantly exceeded that goal."
-- Yahoo Buzz will be rolled out to all publishers in the coming months.
-- Display yield: non-guaranteed volume and pricing both up double digits in Q2.
-- Blake Jorgensen: Some financial figures.
-- 14,800 employees.
-- Alibaba.com, GMarket and Yahoo Japan: worth $10 billion.
-- Excluding the change in AT&T deal, revenue ex-TAC would have been up 11 percent yoy.
-- Weak revenue growth: Finance, auto, travel.
By Joseph Weisenthal