Yahoo earnings: It could be worse

Response among in tech journalists to Yahoo's layoff announcement and profit drop runs the gamut. But on one thing they agree: it could have been worse.

Here's Stephen Shankland's analysis following the call. And here's what some others are saying in the debrief:

Weaker results? Check. Guidance going forward weaker still? Check. Layoffs? Check. Economy sucks? Double check! Nonetheless, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said he "remained optimistic" about Yahoo and was going to "get fit" and power through its obvious troubles. Get this guy over the to McCain campaign pronto! Yahoo's news was about as good as the polls are going for the Republican presidential candidate...Revenue at the Sunnyvale-based Yahoo was $1.78 billion, slightly up from the $1.76 billion from last year's third quarter. In other words, bad but not the worst. That's to come, apparently, as Yahoo also warned of a tougher outlook for the months ahead.
--Kara Swisher, All Things Digital

Results and guidance as expected: crappy, but not terrible. EPS in line. Revenue low end of guidance range. EBITDA low end of range. Guidance weak. 10 percent + of workforce will be fired in Q4 (1,500+). Employees will be notified in the next few weeks.
--Henry Blodget, Silicon Alley Insider

It's come to this--when Yahoo slashes 10 percent of its workforce and sees profits slide 64 percent, Wall Street is happy because it could have been so much worse.
--Sam Gustin, cited in Portfolio

Now, these figures may not seem too bad and would seem that Yahoo is achieving its projected earnings and income, but that's what you get for not projecting too achieve too much given its current market performance and market share."
--Arnold Zafra, Search Engine Journal

It was somewhat miraculous: Yahoo delivered third-quarter earnings that landed squarely in line with Wall Street estimates, despite a dramatic slowdown in the display ad market; a delayed search deal with Google; and a global financial crisis...In anticipation of a rotten year, the company said it will reduce headcount by 10 percent in the fourth quarter...This time around, there's some hope that a) Yahoo will actually follow through on its plan, and b) that the layoffs will eliminate some of the bureaucratic, money-sucking middle managers.
--Betsy Schiffman, Epicenter