Internet giant "Yahoo" reports declines in revenue and profit

Troubled internet giant "Yahoo" reported steep declines in revenue and profit for the third quarter, pulled down by weak ad sales and the failure of its search partnership with Microsoft to yield strong returns. Yahoo''s income for the quarter ended September 30 was US$293 million, down 26 percent from the same period last year. Revenue was $1.22 billion, a decline of 24 percent, the company said. However, the figure was not as bad as investors had feared and the firm''s shares rose in after-hours trading. The company is still one of the biggest draws on the internet. Yahoo said it expects revenue of $1.13bn to $1.24bn in the next three months, excluding traffic-acquisition costs. The company has failed to keep pace with advertising growth at rivals Google and Facebook. Yahoo continues to lose visitors to its rivals. According to market analyst ComScore, Yahoo accounted for 9.9% of the time spent by US web surfers online in September, while Google had 10.2% and Facebook had 14.7%.