Yahoo! revamps earnings report with live video webcast

Yahoo! ditched the traditional conference call in favor of a live webcast for yesterday’s Q2 2013 earnings announcement, with chief executive Marissa Mayer and chief financial officer Ken Goldman talking investors and analysts through the results in a news bulletin-style webcast.

The earnings webcast also incorporated real-time tweets into its Q&A session, while Mayer – who marks her anniversary at the firm today – posted pre-webcast pictures on Tumblr, which was bought by Yahoo! in May for more than $1 bn. ‘It’s actually a lot of fun to be experimenting with a new format and we hope you’ll think it’s an improvement,’ said Goldman.


Live webcast: Yahoo!’s CEO Marissa Mayer and CFO Ken Goldman

Although revenue fell 0.9 percent over the quarter, both Goldman and Mayer had good news to deliver: Yahoo!’s second quarter profits climbed to $331.2 mn – an impressive 46 percent increase on Q2 2012.

‘In Q2 we continued to invest in our core business, strengthening our teams and launching new products in our quest toward long-term growth,’ explained Mayer. ‘The pace of our product launches has dramatically picked up. Q2 was one of the most productive in the history of Yahoo!’

Tweeting live to more than 22,000 followers, Yahoo! even included a safe harbor: ‘Our forward-looking tweets are subject to risks & uncertainties. Actual $YHOO results could differ materially.’

The move to a more interactive format for Yahoo!’s earnings report comes after the SEC’s April guidance clarifying its position on social media disclosures. Netflix, which inadvertently became the poster child for material posts via social media, is also set to deliver its earnings call via a live webcast on Monday, July 22.

CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells will take questions via email and Twitter, while the webcast will be moderated by Julia Boorstin, CNBC media reporter, and BTIG Research analyst Rich Greenfield.