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SAN FRANCISCO — Amid a generally falling stock and an uncertain future, Yahoo ( YHOO ) opened its mobile developers conference in San Francisco on Thursday with a keynote by CEO Marissa Mayer that avoided addressing the company’s troubled state of affairs . Speaking to several hundred developers of mobile apps — the balconies at the historic Masonic venue were empty — she kicked off the daylong affair with an optimistic tone, a day after the company’s latest round of layoffs. “We’re continuing to invest in tools that will help developers build great apps, reach new audiences and grow into great businesses,” Mayer said in the prepared speech. “Today we’re pleased to announce that we have passed 800,000 applications. That means we’ve had almost 500 applications added each day of the past year.” Mobile has been a Yahoo focus since Mayer came aboard as the heralded new CEO in 2012, recruited away from a top role at Google, which is now a unit of Alphabet ( GOOGL ). On Wednesday, tech news website Re/code reported that the company had designated it as the day of the week to implement the job cuts that the company announced would be coming early this month, when it said it was mulling its strategic options. The company has said it plans to lay off 15% of its workforce, cutting about 1,600 jobs . Mayer reportedly intends to spread the layoffs over several Wednesdays. One Yahoo employee told the New York Times that it was “kind of a blood bath” at Yahoo’s offices. “Only a handful of people are staying,” the employee, who requested anonymity, told the Times. Yahoo stock edged up a fraction Thursday, to 29.42. Shares last week touched a 31-month low of 26.15. In her speech, Mayer touted the $1 billion annual revenue being brought in by apps developed on Yahoo’s mobile ad and analytics property, called Flurry. “We want you to know that you’re in the right place,” Mayer said. Yahoo Touts ‘Long-Tail’ Mobile Apps Mayer also told developers that, though mobile growth in general is “plateauing,” developers should focus on capturing more of the time that people spend on mobile devices. “At Yahoo, we believe that the mobile industry is going to be defined by many players, not just a handful,” she said, adding that long-tail apps — designed for less common tasks such as a virtual dressing room — are growing far more quickly than those designed for common tasks such as email or instant messaging. Simon Khalaf, Yahoo vice president of publishing products, also warned that mobile is a maturing industry, which some took to mean that 2016 might see a slowdown. “Mobile is growing so fast,” Khalaf said in his prepared remarks, following Mayer’s. “There was a phenomenal growth year, but growth rates are declining. Wall Street thinks that hardware is on the decline due to saturation, but there’s more opportunity in software. It’s the sign of a maturing industry.” Mayer spoke for just over 10 minutes, though she was scheduled to talk for 25 minutes. At last year’s conference, she took questions from reporters, but this year Yahoo declined to make her available, substituting Khalaf instead. Mobile has been a significant focus for Mayer, part of what the company calls its “MaVeNS” strategy — focusing on the growth areas of mobile, video, native ads and social. Yahoo has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire firms such as Flurry and BrightRoll. The company reported 45% growth in its MaVeNS revenue in 2015 and 26% year-over-year growth in Q4, compared with 8% and 2% growth for the company overall. Mobile represented about 20% of Yahoo’s revenue last year. The embattled CEO has also made big bets on its media properties — bets that did not pay off, as Yahoo on Wednesday said it’s shutting down several of its online magazines, such as food and travel. It plans to reduce the size of its tech reporting staff and eventually fold it into Yahoo News . Yahoo’s revenue growth has now stalled for nearly a decade. Advertising dollars continue to slip away to rivals such as Facebook ( FB ), Netflix ( NFLX ), Google and others. Yahoo’s Q1 2016 guidance disappointed analysts. Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente said that it implies that net revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) will decline by 19% and 53%, respectively. Nomura lowered its price target on Yahoo stock to 34 from 40, citing changes in the valuation of Yahoo’s stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ). Yahoo executives forecast modest revenue growth acceleration in 2017 and 2018. Scalper1 News
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