Bad news for sites dependent on ad revenues: Yahoo warns of market weakness

[mandy]

A slowing U.S. economy may already be impacting Yahoo Inc.'s Web advertising sales growth, the head of the company said Tuesday, a trend that does not bode well for other ad-supported Internet sites.

"We're seeing some slowing in perhaps two of the largest sectors, both autos and financial services," said Terry Semel, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Yahoo, in response to questions at a Goldman Sachs conference.

Advertising sales from both sectors have slowed down during the past three to four weeks, although both remain on a growth track. "They're growing, but they're not growing as quickly as we would have hoped at this moment in time," said Semel.

The comments sparked a sell-off in Yahoo shares...

full article: http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2427/060920y...index.html

[xppman]

Umm anyone else see this for what it is?
The old one two punch is coming (maybe).
As eBay store owners and auctioneers turn to Yahoo's now FREE
once again, auction site and a modest set up fee for Yahoo stores.

Brace yourselves. Yahoo will be announcing that they will once again
be charging for auctions and what ever their Stores fees are... will go up.

I'm telling anyone now who relies on these aggregated sites for sales.
Better get your act together and do not put your trust in any of these multi billion dollar
companies. At a turn of a dime (or a claim that they are not turning a dime)
They will be looking to YOU to keep their coffers full.

GET A WEBSITE

[Jen]

As long as the advertisers are still paying, they'll probably make more money with the ads than with listing/FVF.  However, once more advertisers pull away from CPC, then expect that they'll put in the fees again.  After all, if they did it once before they'll do it again - as soon as they think they can get away with it.

I love having my own websites.  I don't have to worry about somebody else in some office that hasn't sold anything on their own their whole damn life implementing rules that derail my business.

Websites - the EZ way to keep your business independent.