Yahoo's profit leaps 244 per cent after job cuts

Yahoo's sales fell 12 per cent in the third quarter, but cost-cutting profit jumped 244 per cent from last year.

Yahoo's revenue slid to $1.575 billion for the quarter, down 12 per cent from third quarter last year and slightly from last quarter. Net income for the third quarter came in at $186 million, a large leap on last year's $54 million.

"With revenue coming in above our guidance and flat sequentially, we had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilised," said Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz, in a statement.

Yahoo has cut costs by slashing thousands of jobs. It also unveiled a new homepage in the hopes of clawing back traffic lost to Google.

Part of that battle includes a tie-up with Microsoft's Bing search engine, which will see Yahoo handed 18 per cent of the partnership's search revenue, if the deal wins regulatory approval.

Yahoo chief financial officer Tim Morse said in a statement: "Our efforts to reposition Yahoo are still in the early stages, but we're confident that our investments in the business will enable us to capitalise on growth opportunities as the economy recovers."