Yahoo second-quarter earnings: Nothing to yodel about

SAN FRANCISCO -- It’s not such a happy anniversary for Marissa Mayer, who just polished off her first year at the helm of Yahoo.

Shares of Yahoo are down 2% after the company released a second-quarter earnings report that showed revenue fell 7% year over year to $1.14 billion, giving investors very little to yodel about.

Analysts had expected disappointing numbers. The June quarter reflects the tough challenge facing Mayer as she attempts to turn around the aging Internet company that continues to trail competitors Facebook and Google: a steady decline in Yahoo’s advertising business.

Yahoo’s earnings did rise 46% but that was due to its investment in Chinese Internet company Alibaba.

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Yahoo earned $331 million, or 30 cents a share in the three months ending in June. This time last year it earned $227 million, or 18 cents a share.

Mayer has described turning around Yahoo as a “series of sprints” that could take years, and she has asked investors to be patient.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Youssef Squali called the second-quarter results “muted,” noting revenue came in “slightly shy of expectations.”

But, he noted, “Yahoo continues to lose share in both display and search” advertising.

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