Yahoo Earnings Call: Search Revs Up 11 Percent In Q4; Still Not Selling (Yet)
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
"We're not planning to immediately sell the search biz," CEO Carol Bartz said, during the company's earnings call. That's likely because Yahoo's search revenues held up in Q4, despite the market's implosion, which analysts were expecting:
Owned & Operated search revenue came in at $436 million, up 11 percent year-over-year, but down slightly from $438 million the previous quarter.
Query volume was up 10 percent; revenue per search (RPS) grew in the "mid-single digits," though the company didn't disclose the exact number.
On beating Microsoft right now: Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) is a distant second to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) in terms of search market sharebut its still ahead of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). "We've stabilized query results. And people often forget it remains three times the size of the number three player," Bartz said. She said all options were still on the table, but that Yahoo would continue to work on search quality and innovation: "Whether we keep it or sell it, search is important to this company and it's important to build it up."
Reconciling earlier search share gains: Jefferies & Co's Youseff Squali asked CFO Blake Jorgensen how he reconciled the fact that Yahoo picked up search market share last year, and reported only 11 percent in growth. "What we're seeing in Q4 is the impact of the economy and reaction from advertisers. Click yields and fewer inquires are what impacted revenues in that category."
Currency issues drag down international revs: U.S. search revenues grew about 17 percent; international were revs flat on a "constant currency" basis. Jorgensen told JP Morgan's Imran Khan international revs ground to a halt mainly because of currency fluctuationsnamely "issues with the euro" and the "massive devaluation of the [Korean] won."
By Tameka Kee