Internet bellwether Yahoo! edges past Wall Street forecast

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. reported a $48.5 million second-quarter loss Wednesday, bad news that was slightly better than Wall Street had expected.

Proving that the Internet economy remains deep in the doldrums, Yahoo showed a net loss of 9 cents per share in the three-month period ending June 30. It is the company's third consecutive net quarterly loss.

Excluding restructuring charges and other one-time items, Yahoo earned $8.7 million, or 1 cent a share. Analysts were predicting break-even per-share results.

Shares of Yahoo were up $1.25 to $18.28 in after-hours trading after finishing the regular session on the Nasdaq at $17.03, off 80 cents. Yahoo said it now has 200 million registered users, up from 156 million this time last year. Some 104.4 million visitors worldwide checked out Yahoo pages at home in May, making Yahoo more popular than any place on the Internet other than the sites run by Microsoft and AOL-Time Warner.

The earnings report follows two relatively quiet months since former Hollywood executive Terry Semel took over as chairman and chief executive. Semel was hired to revive Yahoo's slumping sales in a wretched market for online advertising, which accounted for 90 percent of the company's $1.1 billion in revenue last year.

Yahoo needs much more than a rebound in the online advertising market. The company is finding adoption of several new subscription-based services ''modest at best,'' W.R. Hambrecht & Co. analyst Derek Brown said in a research report Wednesday.

''Structural problems still exist within Yahoo that may require several quarters/years to address,'' he wrote.

Yahoo said Wednesday it has filled key holes, naming new managing directors for its European and North Asian divisions and a new chief executive for its Korean group.

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