Roundup: Yahoo results, China net chaos, Google print ads

Yahoo profits fall

Yahoo reported a dip in quarterly profit on Tuesday as advertisers spent less on its online ads, and the company gave a weaker-than-expected forecast for the rest of 2007.

Jerry Yang, the company's co-founder and recently installed as chief executive, has promised a new strategic plan as he tries to jumpstart the flagging business, which is struggling to compete with rivals Google and Microsoft in the online advertising market.

Net income for the second quarter fell to $161 million (£78.7 million), from $164 million in the same quarter the previous year. The earnings were in line with the company's previously lowered forecast.

Chinese net censors cause email chaos

Internet users and company officials in China today blamed a series of disruptions to cross-border email traffic on adjustments to the country's vast internet surveillance and free-speech suppression system.

China is in the midst of a highly publicised campaign to rein in "unhealthy content" in its rapidly growing corner of the internet, where the spread of information regarding incidents of government corruption and rural unrest not reported in conventional media has alarmed China's paranoid leaders.

Several IT companies managing email servers confirmed internet users and clients in China and overseas had complained of having trouble sending and receiving emails in the region.

Several Chinese internet service providers, including 263.com and Sina.com, have sent out warnings to email users about problems at the "international gateway" that could affect users' "overseas communications".

Google to sell print ads

In a departure for Google's advertising business, the search specialist is expanding its Print Ads programme to allow online advertisers nationwide to place print advertisements in 225 newspapers, serving half of US newspaper readers.

The programme, which will let hundreds of thousands of Google AdWords customers place newspaper ads in the same way they buy their existing web, radio or TV ad space, follows a 50-publication test started last November among a small group of advertisers.

The 225 newspapers are located in 32 of the 35 biggest US markets, with a combined circulation of almost 30 million subscribers. Among the newspapers in the programme are The New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Seattle Times and San Jose Mercury News.

Details are at http://www.google.com/adwords/printads/.

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