SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc., the biggest U.S. Web portal, forecast sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates as it continued to lose advertisers to Google and Facebook. The shares fell in extended trading. SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc., the
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc., the biggest U.S. Web portal, forecast sales that fell short of analysts’ estimates as it continued to lose advertisers to Google and Facebook. The shares fell in extended trading.
Second-quarter sales, excluding revenue passed to partner sites, will be as much as $1.09 billion, Sunnyvale, Calif., based Yahoo said Tuesday on its website. Analysts on average had projected revenue of $1.11 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer is struggling to boost marketing revenue as customers shun Yahoo’s banner ads in favor of lower-priced, targeted promotions offered by Google and Facebook, according to Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group. Yahoo’s share of the U.S. market will shrink to 7.7 percent this year, from 9 percent in 2012, predicts researcher EMarketer Inc.
“We don’t see any meaningful signs of a turnaround,” Wieser wrote in a research report.
The shares retreated as much as 5.1 percent in late trading. Earlier, Yahoo closed at $23.79 in New York. The stock has climbed 20 percent this year, compared with a 10 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
First quarter net income attributable to Yahoo increased 36 percent to $390.3 million, or 35 cents a share, from $286.3 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
Sales of display ads decreased 11 percent to $455 million, from the same period a year earlier. Search revenue, excluding sales passed to partner sites, dropped 10 percent to $425 million.
Google will retain its lead in the U.S. display-ad market this year with an 18 percent share, while Facebook will have 16 percent, according to EMarketer.
Yahoo is revamping its Web properties and creating new mobile services to court users who rely on smartphones and tablets to go online. Mayer has said she’s working to help consumers on the go perform daily tasks like checking stock quotes or sports scores.
Mayer is using small acquisitions of mobile software startups as a way to reignite growth and add talent. Yahoo has purchased at least six startups — Stamped Inc., OntheAir, Snip.it, Alike, Jybe Inc. and Summly — since Mayer assumed the CEO post in July.
