By Alexei Oreskovic
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc's
The once iconic Internet company caught analysts, investors and industry watchers by surprise Monday when it announced that it had poached Mayer from Google Inc
"Since this is Marissa's first day on the job she will not be joining us on the call. However, she is very mindful of the importance of the investor community and I'm sure that you'll be hearing from her soon," said Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse, who led the call solo for the company.
Mayer's first day at Yahoo coincided with its reporting of flat net revenue and a slight decline in profit during the second quarter.
Shares of Yahoo rose 10 cents to $15.70 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
Net revenue, which excludes fees paid to partner websites, was $1.081 billion in the three months ended June 30, compared to $1.076 billion at this time last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were looking for net revenue of $1.096 billion.
Yahoo's second-quarter net income was $226.6 million, or 18 cents a share, down slightly from roughly $237 million, or 18 cents a share, in the year ago period.
Excluding certain items, Yahoo said it earned 27 cents a share, above the 22 cents a share expected by analysts.
Morse said on the call that Yahoo wanted to give Mayer "time to get acclimated" with the company before providing forward guidance for the remainder of the year.
Mayer, a longtime Google executive who is Yahoo's third chief in twelve months, faces a significant challenge in trying to rejuvenate the ailing Web pioneer which has seen its revenue growth stall as consumers increasingly spend time on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Yahoo said its revenue from online display ads increased 2 percent year-on-year to $535 million, while its search revenue decreased 1 percent to $461 million.
Mayer's hiring caps a tumultuous year at Yahoo. In May, Scott Thompson resigned as CEO after less than six months on the job as a controversy flared up over his academic credentials.
Thompson replaced the outspoken and occasionally foul-mouthed Carol Bartz, who was fired in September after failing to revitalize Yahoo.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr and Peter Lauria)
