Yahoo Sets Out To Regain Analysts' Respect

MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With its stock in a three-year funk, Yahoo Inc. set out Wednesday to persuade investors that the Internet company's struggles are nearly over.

"We have fallen and we really want to get back up," Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz said as she kicked off an all-day meeting with financial analysts. "We really want to get back on our tippy toes."

Bartz vowed to make the company more profitable, and said she hoped Wednesday's session would win back some of the respect that the company lost as two previous CEOs were unable to deliver on their turnaround promises.

As a first step, Yahoo pledged to boost its operating profit margin to a range of 15 percent to 20 percent by 2012, up from just 6 percent this year — a performance Bartz derided as "pathetic."

Although it didn't set a specific timetable for hitting a target, Yahoo said it believes it can increase its annual revenue by nearly $1.5 billion. The company, based in Sunnyvale, thinks it rake in the extra money doing a better job of capitalizing on a marketing shift to the Internet in the U.S. and expanding its market share internationally.