By Josh Beckerman
Yahoo Inc. has authorized an additional $2 billion for stock
buybacks through March 2018.
The company said about $726 million remains available under a
repurchase program announced in November 2013.
Buybacks have been on the wish list of activist shareholder
Starboard Value LP, which earlier this month called for a "major
overhaul" of the Internet company. In addition to cost-cutting and
a spinoff of the company's stake in Yahoo Japan, Starboard said
Yahoo should return $3.5 billion to $4 billion of excess cash to
shareholders through repurchases.
In January, Yahoo said its fourth-quarter revenue from display
ads, excluding traffic costs, dropped 5% to $464 million, the third
straight quarterly decline.
While revenue from desktop display ads continues to shrink,
Yahoo has attempted to offset those declines by investing in newer
businesses like mobile, social, native ads and video. Yahoo said
mobile revenue grew 23% to $254 million.
In after-hours trading, Yahoo shares were up 1.7% to $45.21.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
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