Yahoo beats Wall Street estimates ahead of Verizon takeover
Yahoo beat Wall Street earnings estimates in its third quarter earnings, which was a welcome bit of good news for Marissa Mayer’s firm.
The company said it earned 20 cents per share on an adjusted basis, above analyst predictions of 14 cents and reported a 6.5 per cent rise in quarterly revenue.
But although Yahoo reported rising revenue in most categories, its display advertising business – a key metric – was down seven per cent.
After deducting fees paid to partner websites, revenue dropped to $857.7m. Adjusted EBITDA was down $229.2m from $244.2m.
“I am pleased with our Q3 results,” said Yahoo’s chief executive, Marissa Mayer. “This year we launched several new products and showed solid financial performance across the board; both are a testimony to the tremendous teamwork, focus and resilience of our employees.”
Read more: Everything we know about the Yahoo hack – including how to protect yourself
It has been a turbulent time for the firm of late and analysts had been predicting more bad news for Yahoo as the firm released results amid a takeover bid on shaky standings.
In July, Verizon announced plans to purchase Yahoo for $4.83bn, but since then there has been increasing speculation that the bid was under threat.
Two months after the announcement Yahoo revealed that at least 500m of its users had been hacked.
Mayer didn't divulge much more on the breach, but said: "We take deep responsibility in protecting our users and the security of their information."
On Friday chief executive Marissa Mayer cancelled the usual results call with analysts. It released filings and a press statement, but said it wouldn’t take questions “due to the pending transaction with Verizon”.