Internet company Yahoo In has reported that its third-quarter profit more than tripled as cost cuts and asset sales more than offset a continued decline in sales,
Chief financial officer Tim Morse said Yahoo's top advertisers were beginning to spend again.
Excluding traffic acquisition costs that Yahoo shares with partners, net revenue was $1.13 billion in the third quarter, almost in line with expectations but down from $1.33 billion a year earlier.
Yahoo has undergone significant restructuring since chief executive Carol Bartz took over in January. In April, Yahoo said it would lay off 5% of its workforce, or about 675 people, and it has pulled the plug on underperforming properties. Its day-to-day expenses in the third quarter fell 18% from a year ago to $775m.
Net profit was $187.8m, or 13 cents a share, up from $54.3m a year earlier. Analysts had expected seven cents per share.
'There are definitely signs that the markets have stabilised and spending is starting to free up,' Mr Morse told Reuters. 'I'm not going to predict when the growth rebounds, but I feel good that things are no longer on the downward trend.
Competition regulators in the US and Europe are evaluating a 10-year web search partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft, which are joining forces to challenge market leader Google.
By combining their search engines, Yahoo and Microsoft would hold roughly 30% of the U.S. search market, compared with Google's 65%, making their combined audience a more attractive place for marketers to spend their ad dollars.
