Yahoo! (NASDAQ:
YHOO
) is
expected
to post a much-needed gain when it reports its third-quarter
earnings after the market close on Monday. Current
estimates
suggest that Yahoo will post earnings of 26 cents per share on
revenue of $1.08 billion. This is a modest increase over the
company's 3Q 2011 results, but it might not be enough to silence
critics of the firm's new CEO Marissa Mayer.
Mayer has received a
tremendous amount of criticism
ever since she announced that she was leaving her former
employer, Google (NASDAQ:
GOOG
), to take control of Yahoo. Some analysts believed that Ross
Levinsohn, who served as the firm's interim CEO after Scott
Thompson
stepped down
, would become the company's new chief executive. Others expected
Yahoo to appoint someone else from within the firm. The company
stunned the world when it announced that it had hired an
outsider.
When Thompson joined Yahoo, one analyst argued that he could
raise the company's value to
$100 per share
. But after enduring a fierce resume scandal (in which he was
found to have lied about having a computer science degree) and a
battle with cancer, Thompson left his post as CEO.
In the months that followed, Levinsohn was faced with a
company that had gotten itself into a
handful of legal issues
. Under the guidance of other chief executives, Yahoo announced a
plethora of layoffs
. These are not issues that Levinsohn was given the time to
remedy.
Now it is Mayer's turn to take charge and lead the company to
profitability. In September, she was expected to
detail her plans
for Yahoo's future, but little came from that report. Mayer is
believed to make a more significant announcement Monday
afternoon.
Without any indication of what Mayer might have planned, many
are speculating that the company will announce a number of
acquisitions. Over the past several months, Yahoo has worked hard
to form a
number of key partnerships
with major corporations, including subsidiaries of Comcast
(NASDAQ:
CMCSA
) and Disney (NYSE:
DIS
). Yahoo also announced a
partnership
with Spotify that would allow the two firms to cross-promote
their respective services.
Instead of forming additional partnerships, Yahoo is
expected to acquire
OpenTable (NASDAQ:
OPEN
), Millennial Media (NYSE:
MM
), PubMatic and/or Caterva. As the leading restaurant
reservations website, OpenTable is thought to be a very
attractive company to Yahoo, which may also be interested in the
site's
15 million reviews
.
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