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Yahoo continues struggle in online ad space

Yahoo has reported revenues of $1.32bn for Q4 2011, down 13% from the previous year, in another sign that the beleaguered internet company is losing ground in the online advertising space.  

Yahoo matched analyst estimates with earnings of $296m, or 24 cents per share, during the fourth quarter of 2011, down 5% from $312m a year earlier. The results mark the 13^th quarter in a row that Yahoo’s net revenue has declined over the previous year.

Yahoo’s Q4 sales fell 3.3% from the year prior to $1.17bn and its total unique visitors rose 11%, with views of media content rising 8% last year.

Yahoo chief executive Scott Thompson, who was appointed to the role at the beginning of 2012, has promised changes for this year and wants to “try to predict what’s in a user’s mind” and change the layout of pages and advertising based on that.

“In 2012 we will be aligning resources behind key areas of focus to enable us to move aggressively in market and grow our business, bringing innovative new products and experiences to both our users and advertisers,” he said. “For our advertisers, we need to give them better results to make them spend more money with Yahoo.”

“I am absolutely confident that the steps we take will be in the best interest of our shareholders,” he added.

At the same time, Yahoo chief financial officer Tim Morse has confirmed that Yahoo is in talks with its Asian partners to “significantly” alter Yahoo’s holdings, but no further details were given.

In comparison, earlier this week Google posted revenues of $10.58bn for the same period of 2011.

Jenni Baker, London