Yahoo profit drops

Yahoo Inc posted a sharply lower quarterly profit on nearly flat sales, but its shares rose 8 percent on the Internet media company's plan to cut at least 10 percent of its work force to save costs.
Yahoo, the leading provider of online display advertising, said it planned to cut at least another 10 percent of its roughly 15,000-strong global work force, and reduce its expense-run rate by around $400 mln by the end of 2008.
The planned job cuts of more than 1,500 employees expand an earlier cut of roughly 1,000 jobs, or 7 percent, that Yahoo made in February. Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen said Yahoo was prepared to further cut jobs and other expenses in 2009 if the economy continues to deteriorate.
Net income for the third quarter tumbled to $54.3 mln, or 4 cents per diluted share, from $151 mln, or 11 cents per diluted share.
Gross revenue, including payments to affiliated websites that carry Yahoo ads, edged up 1 percent to $1.79 bln. Net revenue was $1.325 bln, compared with the average Wall Street estimate of $1.37 bln, according to Reuters Estimates.