SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo Inc shares reached their highest level in
a year and a half, as investor confidence grows that new Chief Executive Marissa
Mayer can
pull off a comeback that eluded three of her predecessors.
The Internet pioneer has yet to actually provide Wall Street
with any hard evidence that its business is turning a corner - and she has
warned that it will be a lengthy job - but investor faith in the ex-Google
executive is running high.
Yahoo ranks among the world's
most popular websites, with roughly 700 million monthly visitors. But the
company's revenue has eroded, amid competition from Google and Facebook and an
industry-wide change in the online advertising market that has compressed
prices for the online display ads that are key to its business.
The company has been rocked by internal turmoil: CEO Carol Bartz was fired over the phone and CEO Scott Thompson left after less than six months on the
job due to questions about his academic credentials. Mayer, Google's first
female engineer, took the top job at Yahoo in July.
In a conference call with investors last month, Mayer said that
making Yahoo's online products more smartphone-friendly was her top priority.
Investors and analysts on Monday dismissed a weekend report in
The Telegraph that said Yahoo was in discussions with Facebook about a search
deal, particularly after Facebook issued a statement denying any such talks.
More news: The Star Online
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