Yahoo results show mixed financial picture

Yahoo hopes that a redesigned homepage will help to boost revenues

Yahoo has published second-quarter results showing a mixed bag of figures, but the company remains bullish about future growth.

Overall revenue was down 13 per cent over the year, with display sales revenue down 14 per cent and listings revenue down 21 per cent. Nevertheless, the company announced a profit gain of 7.8 per cent from the previous year.

"Considering the economy, I am pleased with our results," said Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz during a conference call.

"As far as the economy goes, it is easy to assume that it is bumping along the bottom but, in all honestly, there is just so much conflicting information in the market that it is just too early to call. Our goal in the midst of this is to run our business."

Bartz explained that the company had been cutting costs aggressively, and will use the savings to boost spending in key areas to allow the company to grow as the economy expands.

In particular Bartz mentioned the redesigned Yahoo homepage, which is being rolled out today in the US and next week in the UK, France and India.

Advertising in particular is being revamped on the home page to make adverts "more relevant and frankly less irritating to users", said Bartz.

Some adverts would be cut or shown less often, she explained, at a cost of around $75m (£45m) in advertising revenue, which is a drop in the ocean of current revenues.

Yahoo has also signed a deal with AT&T under which the 5,000 salespeople working on the telco's Yellowpages.com site will also sell advertising space on Yahoo.

Bartz and new Yahoo chief financial officer Tim Morse would not be drawn on the possibilities of a deal with Microsoft to sell part or all of the company, despite recent rumours.