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Yahoo bounces back with strong growth
Yahoo has released positive fourth quarter results, with revenues coming in at $1.7 billion, and has released details of a ranking system to list sponsored searches based on quality as well as keyword price.Known as Panama, the new paid search adsystem will come into effect on February 5th and will more closely emulate the AdWords model used by arch-rival Google.
Yahoo will be able to place relevant ads alongside the content viewed by its huge numbers of visitors. This in turn is likely to translate into clicks and improved conversion rates, bringing Yahoo yet more traffic and – the company hopes – gain back some of the ground lost to Google.
Today's news is particularly welcome because at the end of last year Yahoo was struggling with declining profitability and made headlines for a leaked memo that revealed internal tensions.
Display ad revenue at Yahoo was up by almost a third (30 per cent) over the quarter compared with the same period the year before, with consumer packaged goods, financial services and pharmaceuticals being the sectors showing the steepest growth.
An ad network extension to eBay is also expected to boost growth.
Terry Semel, Yahoo's chairman, told Forbes: "I am pleased with the progress Yahoo made in the fourth quarter. I am confident that our new structure and concentrated focus on Yahoo's key priorities puts us in the best position to take advantage of the many opportunities that we see ahead of 2007 and beyond."
Yahoo! News posted on 24 January 2007
