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Yahoo makes a loss as sales slip Yahoo makes a loss as sales slip
(20 minutes later)
Yahoo has reported a loss in the final three months of 2008 as the economic downturn hit sales of online ads.Yahoo has reported a loss in the final three months of 2008 as the economic downturn hit sales of online ads.
Its figures showed a loss of $303.4m (£215m) compared with a profit of $205.7m a year earlier. Revenue declined for the time since 2001. Its figures showed a loss of $303.4m (£215m) compared with a profit of $205.7m a year earlier. Revenue declined for the first time since 2001.
The loss comes as Carol Bartz takes over from Jerry Yang as the firm's new chief executive.The loss comes as Carol Bartz takes over from Jerry Yang as the firm's new chief executive.
Mr Yang stepped down following the rejection of a $47.5bn takeover offer from Microsoft last year.Mr Yang stepped down following the rejection of a $47.5bn takeover offer from Microsoft last year.
"The company made important investments while aggressively managing costs, leaving us better positioned to weather the economic downturn and emerge stronger when advertiser spending improves," said Ms Bartz.
YAHOO FACTS Founded in 1995, is based in Sunnyvale, California, Is the world's second most popular internet search engine - but trails far behind market leader GoogleCurrently employs about 15,000 staff Carol Bartz: 'the safe pick'See Yahoo shares over past year
Revenue fell 1% to $1.806bn.
Analysts said the fourth-quarter results were not too big a setback for the firm as the loss stemmed from one-off charges to cover the cost of laying off 1,500 employees and to account for bad investments.
However, close rival Google saw revenue rise by 18% in the same period.
"To a certain extent, [the fourth quarter] was not as bad as some of the dire cases we were talking about," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities.
For 2008 as a whole, Yahoo made a net profit of $424m compared with $660m in 2007.