As we know, Yahoo's overhauling its search advertising system, but CFO Sue Decker, speaking yesterday at the company's annual analyst meeting in San Francisco, doesn't expect the changes to make a
positive financial contribution until 2007. Yahoo's overall revenue should grow 24 to 31 percent this year, settling into a compounded growth rate of 25-26 percent for the next few years after that,
she said. This would be slightly faster than the 22-24 percent growth projected for Web advertising overall. Yahoo's new SEM software won't be available to ad buyers until the third quarter in the
States and the first quarter '07 for overseas advertisers, which is why the new system won't positively affect revenues this year. In April, Yahoo said it expected 2006 revenues between $4.6 and $4.85
billion. Meanwhile, in recent years Yahoo's margins have stabilized at around 40 percent, as the company balances ad growth with investment in new areas. Decker said more than half of the company's
immediate ad growth will come from increases in revenue per user as a result of its new ad system.
Read the whole story at Reuters.com »
