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Microsoft has extended its revenue guarantee with Yahoo, according to an SEC filing. The revenue-per-search guarantee, part of the ten-year deal the two companies struck in 2009, will be extended by one additional year, allowing Yahoo to earn more revenue than it otherwise would have if the guarantee fully elapsed.
Yahoo has announced that Chairman of the Board Fred Amoroso is resigning. The former IBM executive will remain on the board of directors until the annual shareholder meeting on June 25. The chairman position will be filled by Maynard Webb, Jr. temporarily until a new director is found.
Yahoo! has launched an updated version of its iOS app featuring Summly integration, a new interface, and improved search options. Acquired by Yahoo! at the end of March for a supposed $30 million, Summly is a news aggregator that uses natural-language algorithms to create quick story summaries. These summaries are now provided to users in an endless news stream that has been designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. Search is also said to be improved, both for video and images, giving users the option to narrow down searches to different categories and selecting only the topics that are of interest.
Yahoo has shuttered a number of services, in its continued efforts to remove underperforming products and shift its focus towards more profitable areas. A company blog post signed by Jay Rossiter, executive vice president for platforms at Yahoo, states that local event calendar service Upcoming, Yahoo Deals, SMS Alerts, the Yahoo Mail and Messenger apps for feature phones using J2ME, and Yahoo Kids, formerly known as Yahooligans, will be closed down.
Yahoo today released quarterly financial results that approached, but fell short of, Wall Street expectations. The company's net revenue reached $1.07 billion, the low end of what the company forecast in January, with analyst estimates at $1.1 billion. Yahoo said it earned $390 million, or 35 cents a share in the first three months of the year, compared to $286 million, or 23 cents in first quarter of 2012.
Apple and Yahoo are discussing ways to bring more of Yahoo's best features to Apple's iOS platform, the Wall Street Journal reports. While the two companies are already working together on various projects -- the default Stock and Weather apps on iOS devices are powered by Yahoo, its search engine is an option in Safari, and its sports stats are incorporated into Siri -- the idea may be to continue Apple's move away from Google services wherever possible. This may include expanded service offerings and more cooperation.
Microsoft may name its upcoming operating system refresh Windows 8.1, if a leaked image is proven correct. A screenshot posted on WinForum.eu and confirmed by sources of ZDNet shows the leaked Windows Blue build adding a suffix to the Windows 8 name instead of using Windows 9. The RT edition will be known as Windows RT 8.1. Though unlikely, it is still possible for Microsoft to give the OS update a different name, as a firm release date has yet to be set.
London-based newsreader developer Summly has been acquired by Yahoo. The deal, said to be worth $30 million, will see the Summly app close, and Yahoo issued a statement that said the company plans to "acquire the technology and you’ll see it come to life throughout Yahoo’s mobile experiences soon."
Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer has picked up $1.12 million bonus for meeting performance targets, reports Bloomberg. As Mayer only joined Yahoo in July of 2012 from Google, where she was one of its top executives, the payment was made on a pro-rata basis. Since joining Yahoo, Mayer has helped to drive its stock price up over 40 percent, while also helping Yahoo to its first sales increases in the past four years.
In its continuing effort to shed deadweight, Yahoo has announced that it is shuttering seven services, including its BlackBerry mobile app. The shutdowns were announced on the company blog, and include Yahoo avatars, its BlackBerry app, Yahoo Clues, the app search service, Yahoo Sports IQ, and the Yahoo message boards website.
Hitcase has launched a new iPhone mount that can be attached to any any smooth, flat surface. With two ball joints and a single tightening clamp in the socket arm, the SuckR mount's axles can be loosened simultaneously to quickly change to another viewing angle. In addition, the adjustable Railslide system allows the mount to be used with the iPhone 4, 4S and 5, as well as with the Hitcase and Hitcase Pro.
On Tuesday, Yahoo acquired its third mobile application team since Marissa Mayer took the reins of the company in June. The company announced that it had purchased the company and personnel behind the mobile application Alike, which is a recommendation tool for suggesting local businesses a user may enjoy based on previous visits and other data collected on the customer. The terms of the deal were not announced.
Earlier this afternoon, Yahoo released its highly-anticipated quarterly and yearly financial results. The search engine posted revenue of $1.346 billion for the fourth quarter of 2012, a 2 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2011. Despite the increase, net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 was $272 million, an eight percent decrease from the same period of 2011. Earnings for the entire year was $3.945 billion including a one-time gain of $2.755 million related to the sale of Alibaba shares, compared to $1.049 billion for the prior year.
An unusual photo was posted to Facebook showing a CEO dinner gathering -- hosted by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer -- that included a significant number of tech CEOs from a wide array of companies, and notably included Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple's SVP of Design. Ive was perhaps the only non-CEO at the table, but was seated next to Mayer in the rare, candid shot. Attendee Mike Cassidy -- of Google X, the experimental project arm of Google -- posted the photo, which includes executives from Dropbox, Path, Twitter, Yelp and more.
[Updated with Yahoo response] Yahoo Mail accounts have been hacked, with a DOM-based cross-site scripting vulnerability being the main vector of attack. Details of the hack, including how to perform the attack on specific e-mail accounts, has appeared online in a YouTube video demonstration, with the entire attacking process taking just a couple of minutes.
Yahoo has launched a significant update of its Mail service. The web interface, foremost, has been updated with a cleaner look, as well as an improved search function. One AllThingsD source claims that Yahoo was deliberately aiming at making the site "more Gmail-like." Yahoo is also reportedly working on an overhaul of its homepage. The company's new CEO, Marissa Mayer, has meanwhile stated in a blog post that the new Mail should roll out to most users.
Carlos Bazan-Canabal, who says he is a partner in both of the firms that recently earned a $2.7 billion judgment against Internet giant Yahoo in a Mexican court, says that he and his partners would be willing to accept a legal settlement for less than the initial judgment. Bazan-Canabal is named as strategic planning director in both Worldwide Directories S.A. de C.V and Ideas Interactivas S.A. de C.V., and he says the two firms are prepared to listen if Yahoo makes them an offer. Bazan-Canabal says that "if we can reach a settlement with an interesting number, we would go for it."
Yahoo announced today that it had acquired OnTheAir, a five-person video chat startup company, in a deal meant to improve Yahoo's mobile communications capabilities. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Yahoo did say that OnTheAir's team would be integrated into Yahoo's mobile group. The acquisition is seen by some observers as part of a continuing effort on the part of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to improve the company's ability to compete in the mobile sector.
Sources within Yahoo say that the company has solid ground upon which to appeal a surprise $2.7 billion judgment handed down by a Mexican civil court last week. Details in the case remain murky even today, but sources familiar with Yahoo's plans indicate that the company believes the decision rests on shaky procedural ground and that there were multiple errors in the application of laws. Yahoo's appeal will likely be held by a panel of three judges in a superior court in Mexico City, though when that appeal may be filed is unclear.
Yahoo announced last week that it would be shuttering a number of features in Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Voice that the company feels "aren't adding enough value" for users. Chief among these will be the closing of the public chat rooms on Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo will also be shutting down Pingbox for Yahoo Messenger, ending Messenger's interoperability with Microsoft Windows Live Messenger, and closing Yahoo Voice's Phone In and Phone Out feature.
A Mexican court has handed down a non-final, $2.7 billion judgment against Yahoo over a suit related to a Yellow Pages-type listing service. The case involved an alleged breach of contract with Worldwide Directories S.A. de C.V. and Ideas Interactivas S.A. de C.V., and it was filed against both Yahoo's US branch and its Mexican branch. At present, the case is something of a mystery to media outlets, as Yahoo did not mention it in its most recent 10Q filing, which lists major ongoing litigation.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer appears to be tightening up operations as she plots a new course for one of the world's larger Internet companies. Reports hold that Mayer is cutting down on traditional holiday vacation hours and implementing a number of cost-cutting and efficiency-raising measures, including cutting up to 12,000 of the company's employees. Mayer has already eliminated the end-of-year "week of rest" for most employees, and the company is said to be developing a new performance evaluation regime aimed at identifying its least productive workers.
Alibaba's net income has more than doubled year-over-year, according to filings released by Yahoo last week. The filings, given by Yahoo to the Securities and Exchange Commission, reveal that the privately held Chinese e-commerce company's incomes were up 113.4 percent year-over-year to $293 million for the quarter. The company's top-line rose 70.6 percent year-over-year to hit $1.1 billion for the quarter ending in June.
Yahoo's quarterly earnings have come in higher than anticipated, beating Wall Street predictions. Third quarter earnings were 35 cents a share with $1.09 billion in sales. Analysts had expected 26 cents per share on revenue of $1.08 billion. The improved per-share profit on relatively flat sales is attributed to reorganization and cost-cutting as a result of Marissa Mayer's changes upon taking the helm of the company.
Today's rumors that Yahoo is interested in acquiring OpenTable, the largest online restaurant reservation service in the US, caused shares in the service to jump the most they have in more than two months. As of 3:30 p.m. EST, OPEN:US shares were up 5.44 percent to $45.96 per share. Through October 19, OpenTable shares had risen 11 percent for the year.
Yahoo said on Friday that it was exiting the South Korean market, citing challenges in the market and stiff competition in the area. Founded in 1997, Yahoo Korea has around 250 employees who will now be looking for work. Localized online portal services will be terminated before the end of the year, with all the corporate assets moved or sold by February 2013.
Yahoo announced today that Ken Goldman would be joining the company as chief financial officer, effective October 22. Golman will be following departing CFO Tim Morse, who has been with the company since June 2009. In welcoming Goldman, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer praised his more than 30 years in financial planning and guidance, hailing him as an ideal choice "as we enter our next phase of growth."
Following the closure of a deal in which it will sell back its stake in Chinese e-retailer Alibaba, Yahoo will return most of the cash to the company's shareholders. Yahoo will be giving out about $3.65 billion in after-tax proceeds from the deal, keeping about $650 million for the company. The company will retain control of 23 percent of Alibaba's common stock.
According to emails collected by Business Insider, CEO Marissa Mayer has offered every Yahoo employee a new Apple, Samsung, Nokia, or HTC smartphone. The plan, called "Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun" is intended to provide employees with the same class of device that Yahoo users are using.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Yahoo is finishing the details to offload half of its assets in China's Alibaba Group by September 20. The $7.6 billion-dollar deal announcement is rumored to be set for September 18, with Alibaba paying Yahoo for half of the 40 percent of the Chinese internet company it owns.
Recently-appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is said to have pushed up the development of Yahoo's IntoNow app to get the product out ahead of schedule. The move came as Yahoo fights slumping revenues and attempts to right itself and leverage its user base toward greater profits. As Advertising Age reports, the IntoNow decision was aimed at taking advantage of the product's capabilities during the Olympics, is one of the major early decisions on Mayer's part; and some observers believe it indicates that Yahoo's future will be more product-focused than ever before.
Following a weekend of rumors, former interim CEO Ross Levinsohn has confirmed that he is leaving Yahoo after not being named for the permanent position. Levinsohn's announcement comes just two weeks after former Google executive Marissa Mayer was appointed as Yahoo CEO and president. Yahoo's last full-time chief executive, Scott Thompson, left in May with controversy swirling about resume educational discrepancies.
Just one day after signing on a new CEO, Yahoo has disclosed quarterly financial information that points to stagnating revenues and a continued decline in profits. Year-over-year revenues shrank by one percent to $1.22 billion, while profits fell by 4.2 percent to $228.5 million.
One Google's leading executives, Marissa Mayer, is leaving the company to become the next CEO of Yahoo, the New York Times reports. Mayer is said to have resigned from Google by telephone just this afternoon, despite starting with Yahoo on Tuesday. In an interview Mayer claims that she "had an amazing time at Google," but that it "was a reasonably easy decision" to jump to Yahoo, which she calls "one of the best brands on the Internet." The executive was first approached about a Yahoo job after returning from a trip to China in mid-June.
Over 400,000 password and email combinations from a Yahoo Voices-rebranded Associated Content server have been posted onine in an apparent breach of security, according to security analyst Trusted Sec. The passwords are connected to their user-identification email addresses, not just from Yahoo, but also from Gmail, AOL, and more. The crowd-sourced question and answer service Associated Content was purchased by Yahoo in May 2010 and fully integrated into the Yahoo suite of products in December 2011.
[Update: settlement confirmed] Reports of Facebook and Yahoo being close to solving their differences over patents surfaced last month, and it seems the two have now fully resolved their differences through a settlement. The agreement will see the relationship expand, with joint advertising and cross-licensing of certain important patents. The deal was approved by both companies earlier on Friday, and sources say that no money or stock swaps were involved in the settlement.
Spotify is combining its popularity as a music streaming service with Yahoo's wide reach to deliver music to nearly half the Internet's global users. The two companies today announced a deal with the potential to significantly shape the digital music landscape. The new partnership will see Spotify integrated across Yahoo's Media Network and Yahoo's original content featured on Spotify's existing platform.
The patent battle between Yahoo and Facebook may be drawing to a close, AllThingsD has been told, as executives from the two companies are said to be working out a settlement agreement. Sources close to the negotiations have indicated that a settlement putting aside the suits and countersuits could emerge in the coming weeks, opening the possibility that the businesses might return to a close partnership.
A trio of App Store user reviews for Yahoo's new Axis mobile browser appear to have been written by Yahoo employees. Staff at TheNextWeb looked at the app's user ratings, finding three five-star reviews from Yahoo employees included. The reviews are just a few among a number of positive reviews for the app, which has been generally well-received.
Yahoo announced today that the company will be discontinuing its personalized digital newspaper app, Livestand, after just six months of availability in the App Store. As detailed in a posting on the Yahoo Corporate Blog, the move is part of a greater push by the web company to refocus its efforts into a mobile-products-first model, with a greater focus on software offerings for tablets, smartphones, and other connected devices.
Update: Axis was temporarily pulled by Yahoo due to a security vulnerability, but has already been updated.
Yahoo has released Axis, which it is calling a 'visual search' application. It has been released as a full mobile browser for iOS and as a cross-platform desktop browser extension that uses page snapshots in live search results instead of text. The iOS app, while having the same tabbed browsing and bookmarking found in Safari, has a user interface focussing on image-heavy search, with cross-device synching possible between iPhone, iPad and the desktop browser extension.
Alibaba, a Chinese-owned e-commerce giant, has bought half of Yahoo's stake in the company through a buyback deal. The previously speculated arrangement, announced on Sunday, sees Alibaba receive half of the 40 percent stake Yahoo has in the company in exchange for $6.3 billion in cash, and around $800 million in new Alibaba preferred shares. Yahoo will also receive preferential treatment if Alibaba conducts an initial public offering, with either Alibaba buying or Yahoo selling 25 percent of the remaining stake.
Yahoo's former senior director of business management, Robert W. Kwok, and a former mutual fund manager at Ameriprise Financial have agreed to settle insider trading charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission maintains that Kwok and fund manager Reema D. Shah shared confidential information after a chance meeting in 2008 and continued with the information exchange into 2009. Kwok pled guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and Shah pled guilty to conspiracy. Both await sentencing.
Yahoo's new boss, appointed just four days ago, is wasting no time in reorganization and shaking up the company. Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn is consolidating a consumer commerce division created by ex-CEO Scott Thompson. Instead of operating separately, the commerce group will be folded into the company's global media force.
Yahoo lawyers accusing Facebook of fraudulently filing patents, as part of an ongoing lawsuit, may have been quickly proven wrong. Facebook, accused of deception, appears to have not only proved the Yahoo legal team wrong by producing the required evidence, but also discovered that there were no previous requests for the relevant document in the first place.
The board of Yahoo has accepted the resignation of former CEO Scott Thompson and named Ross Levinsohn, its head of global media, to be the interim CEO. Fred Amoroso, who just recently joined the board of the troubled Internet search engine, was named chairman, and Third Point hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, who had been pushing for Thompson's removal, and two of his proposed directors will join the board.
Embattled Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has provided another explanation for the inaccuracies on his resume. Thompson reportedly told other top Yahoo executives that he never personally provided Yahoo with a resume prior to taking the CEO job. Yahoo representatives have declined to comment on this matter.
Yahoo is said to be in talks to divest 15-25 percent of its holdings in e-commerce giant Alibaba in a buyback initiated by the Chinese-owned company. According to its sources, Reuters says that the transaction is aimed at removing some or all of the issues that arose when Alibaba’s CEO Jack Ma attempted put together a deal to gain control of Yahoo. Yahoo, which owns 40 percent of Alibaba, could stand to make anywhere between $4.8 billion to $8 billion if the deal goes through.
Facebook, in the run-up to its much-anticipated initial public offering, has amended its IPO filing four times to reflect new information from its ongoing legal battle with Yahoo. Now the social network has filed a fifth amendment, in which it releases a letter wherein Yahoo claims that Facebook risks violating 16 Yahoo patents in operation of its data centers and servers.
Daniel Loeb, a major Yahooshareholder, is accusing CEO Scott Thompson of lying about his credentials. Loeb claims that Thompson does not have a bachelor's degree in computer science from Boston's Stonehill College. Yahoo's board was angrily informed of the discrepancy by Loeb on Thursday after they informed shareholders that Loeb wasn't fit to run the company.
