Yahoo Inc

Chat rooms that could be used by sexual predators seeking access to children will be shut down by Yahoo Inc. under terms of an agreement between the Internet portal and the attorneys general of New York and Nebraska. Yahoo's decision marks the first time an Internet media company has undertaken systemwide controls over chat rooms in which predators link up with children, see them on Web cameras and then arrange meetings, New York Atty. Gen.

When Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury started Maktoob.com as an Arabic e-mail service 10 years ago, they had a modest office in Amman, Jordan, and little support from friends and family who could not imagine anyone using the Internet in Arabic. "We were a typical start-up; I remember the day we got air conditioning we had a party," Toukan recalled. In August, Yahoo Inc. acquired Maktoob, now the largest Arabic portal, for a reported $80 million -- a milestone in the evolution of the Arabic Internet.

The difference between Hollywood's glitzy sensibilities and the smarty-pants culture of Silicon Valley was distilled in a 20-word e-mail to workers in Yahoo Inc.'s Santa Monica office. Sent this year on behalf of a Yahoo executive recently recruited from Fox Broadcasting Co., the e-mail noted that "SOMEONE" had parked in his space. For some who received it, the all-capitals dispatch read like a scream: "PLEASE MOVE OR YOU WILL BE TOWED."

Yahoo Inc. said it bought closely held Online Anywhere, which formats Web pages for accessing by hand-held devices, for $80 million in stock. Yahoo, the leading Internet search service, said acquiring Online Anywhere will enable it to transmit its Internet-directory content to pagers, cellular phones and other portable devices. It did not disclose details of the purchase.

Yahoo Inc. reported a second straight quarter of disappointing financial results Tuesday, but gave investors some hope for a rebound. The company said it had started testing a much-anticipated Web search system designed to compete against its biggest rival, Google Inc. Yahoo's shares rose as much as 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday even though the company said the new system wouldn't help its bottom line until next spring. Yahoo announced its earnings after the market closed.

Yahoo Inc. plans to lay off hundreds of employees in business areas not central to its new priorities as it faces rising competitive pressures, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company, which has seen its share of online advertising decline despite its sites being among the Internet's most visited, is still deciding where to cut.

Yahoo Inc.'s negotiations with Google Inc. have intensified as Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang races to find alternatives to Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $44.6-billion takeover offer, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Yang told Yahoo employees in an e-mail that the board of directors was evaluating "a wide range of potential strategic alternatives" and had "made no decisions" about the Microsoft bid, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Unable to rescue the Internet giant he co-founded from its worst decline since the dot-com bust, Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang said Monday that he planned to step down as soon as he could find a successor. Yang took over for Terry Semel, a former Hollywood executive, in June 2007 with promises to revive the company's fortunes.

Yahoo Inc. said it paid Chief Executive Terry Semel $39.8 million in compensation last year, mostly in stock options. Semel's salary was $250,001, down from $600,000 in 2005, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo said in a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The drop resulted from Semel switching to a $1 salary from $600,000 in May 2006.

Upstart Internet company Yahoo Inc. now has a market value that's larger than many giants of U.S. industry, including Black & Decker, Rubbermaid and Maytag. The stock of Santa Clara-based Yahoo has risen fivefold in the last year, giving it a market capitalization of $5.25 billion. Shares soared $17.25 to close at $114.50 on Nasdaq, one day after it reported earnings that surprised even the most Internet-crazed investors.

When Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury started Maktoob.com as an Arabic e-mail service 10 years ago, they had a modest office in Amman, Jordan, and little support from friends and family who could not imagine anyone using the Internet in Arabic. "We were a typical start-up; I remember the day we got air conditioning we had a party," Toukan recalled. In August, Yahoo Inc. acquired Maktoob, now the largest Arabic portal, for a reported $80 million -- a milestone in the evolution of the Arabic Internet.

Yahoo Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it would shut down most operations during Christmas week to save money, but experts said the holiday lull was par for the course in the Silicon Valley. The Internet company is mandating that most of its employees worldwide, except for those responsible for "essential functions" such as customer service, take off work Dec. 25 through Jan. 1. In the U.S., employees can either use vacation time or take unpaid leave. Christmas and New Year's Day will still be paid holidays.

Three powerful technology companies have banded together to oppose Google Inc.'s proposed settlement with the Authors Guild and the Assn. of American Publishers over the Internet search giant's book scanning project. Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have signed on to a coalition being assembled by the Internet Archive and Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley antitrust lawyer, said Peter Brantley, director of the Internet Archive, a San Francisco nonprofit that is trying to build a free digital library of Internet content.

Despite an economy that has crippled consumer spending, shoppers still shelled out money for iPhones, iPod Touches and other premium products sold by Apple Inc., driving the company to post its best June quarter sales, the electronics giant said Tuesday. The recession, however, did not spare Yahoo Inc. The beleaguered Internet portal posted a 13% plunge in revenue over a year earlier as businesses continued to cut back spending on online advertising.

Yahoo Inc. said Thursday that it would shut down its GeoCities free Web-hosting service after paying about $3 billion for the unit in 1999. GeoCities isn't accepting new accounts and will close later this year, Yahoo said. GeoCities, Yahoo's second-biggest acquisition behind Broadcast.com Inc., lets users design personal websites to show off photos, promote local clubs or publicize business services.

Yahoo Inc. posted drops in revenue and profit in new Chief Executive Carol Bartz's first quarter on the job, and announced plans to cut about 675 workers from its payroll, as the tech industry showed signs of continued economic battering. Although Yahoo met analysts' estimates, its revenue fell to $1.58 billion for the first three months of 2009, down 13% from $1.82 billion a year earlier. Net income was $118.7 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with $536.

Yahoo Inc. reported a $303-million shortfall Tuesday, its first quarterly loss since 2002, as the struggling Internet company took charges to acknowledge the shrinking value of its business. Cutbacks by advertisers, especially on Web banners, hurt Yahoo's revenue, which also dropped for the first time in seven years. Eight days into her new job, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz warned analysts during a conference call that tough times would continue.

Yahoo Inc.'s employees will forgo their usual pay raises this year as the slumping Internet company struggles to boost its profit in a brutal recession. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company confirmed the salary freeze Thursday, the day after informing employees of the decision. The austerity measure marks one of the first cost-cutting actions taken by Yahoo's new chief executive, Carol Bartz, who was hired two weeks ago to engineer a turnaround.

A few years back, Carol Bartz said that the worst thing about her job running software maker Autodesk Inc. was "when people on the outside try to second-guess everything a CEO does." As the new chief executive of beleaguered Internet company Yahoo Inc., Bartz's patience with Monday-morning quarterbacking is likely to be tested.

With U.S. and European regulators and watchdogs worried that Internet companies are compromising users' privacy by keeping data about online behavior for long periods, Yahoo Inc. said Wednesday that it would shorten that time from 13 months to 90 days. The retention policy is the shortest among major U.S. search engines and could pressure rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. to reduce the time they keep information about their users.