Apr

Yahoo Earnings Up On Search Deal Hopes

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Yahoo’s earnings are looking up already from the MicroHoo deal. Microsoft and Yahoo have managed to remind investors by “finalizing” the deal every quarter since its announcement. This time, however, it was the DoJ that gave them that boost when it finally approved the deal in February.

Along with the beginning of reimbursement payments, it looks like the deal was enough to persuade investors and advertisers alike. Reports CNET:

Revenue in the first quarter was $1.6 billion, up just 1 percent from the first quarter of last year. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, net revenue was $1.13 billion, or roughly flat with analyst expectations of $1.17 billion. Revenue from display advertising on Yahoo’s site grew 20 percent compared to the prior year.

Net income was $310 million during the quarter, but that included several unexpected benefits, such as the sale of Zimbra and the beginning of reimbursement payments from Microsoft under the terms of the search deal finalized in February. Excluding those items, Yahoo’s earnings per share during the quarter were still 15 cents, ahead of estimates of 11 cents.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz agrees—”Large advertisers came back,” she said in the conference call. She also said they finally recovered—well, stabilized—from the decline in their stocks that began when the deal was announced in July.

CNET also reports on the long-term benefits of the deal vs. the short-term gains:

Yahoo provided some clarity during the earnings call on how the Microsoft deal will affect its bottom line this year. The company saw a one-time benefit during the quarter of about $43 million related to transition costs, but will also see cost reimbursements from Microsoft for continuing to operate Yahoo’s back-end search organization during the transition, said Tim Morse, Yahoo’s chief financial officer. These operating cost reimbursements totaled just $35 million in the first quarter, but are expected to fall between $75 million and $85 million a quarter over the remainder of the year, he said.

What do you think? Will Bingahoo save Yahoo?

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