Advert price rises help Yahoo beat profit estimates

Yahoo, the biggest US web portal, reported profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates, as chief executive Marissa Mayer benefited from a rise in the prices charged for advertisements.

Fourth-quarter earnings, excluding some items, were 32 cents a share, California-based Yahoo said yesterday. Sales, excluding revenue passed to partner sites, increased to $1.22bn. Analysts on average had projected profit of 28 cents on revenue of $1.21bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Mayer, the fifth CEO in four years, is striving to narrow Yahoo’s gap with Google and Facebook in display advertising, a market that EMarketer Inc predicts will increase to $17.7bn this year. Yahoo has appealed to advertisers by investing more in tools that deliver ad promotions to consumers based on their browsing history, said Kevin Stadtler, president of Stadtler Capital Management LLC.