EARNINGS

YAHOO SHARES FALL ON DISAPPOINTING 2ND-QUARTER REVENUE Shares of Yahoo Inc. fell 7.1% to $29.96 after the company reported disappointing revenue for its second quarter.

The stock drop took $3.2 billion off the Internet company’s market capitalization, now down to about $42.2 billion.

Results weren’t that far off analysts’ expectations. Excluding commissions paid to advertising partners, Yahoo had revenue of $1.12 billion, up 28% from a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected revenue of $1.14 billion.

– Dow Jones Newswires

IBM CFO: REVENUE GROWTH TO BENEFIT FROM CURRENCY IBM Corp.’s chief financial officer, Mark Loughridge, said yesterday some areas of IBM’s business did well during the second quarter, while others need improvement.

Speaking during a conference call to discuss second-quarter results with Wall Street, Mr. Loughridge said IBM’s server business had execution issues during the second quarter in which the supply chain left some orders unfulfilled, while its services business saw some weakness.

Nevertheless, Mr. Loughridge said the company is “on track” to meet the average analyst expectation, as reported to Thomson First Call, of $5.86 a share for the full year. Mr. Loughridge did note that IBM is seeing a divergence between its enterprise business customers and small and medium-sized business customers.

– Dow Jones Newswires

MERRILL 2ND-QUARTER PROFIT RISES, LED BY EQUITY TRADING Merrill Lynch & Co., the world’s biggest brokerage, said second-quarter profit and revenue rose to records as private-equity gains helped the firm’s trading unit withstand two months of stock-market declines.

Net income climbed a greater-than-expected 44% to $1.63 billion, or $1.63 a share, from $1.14 billion, or $1.14, a year earlier, the New York-based firm said today in a statement. Merrill’s shares fell as much as 2.3 percent after Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Edwards said business conditions are more “challenging” and it’s too early to predict how earnings may shape up this quarter.

Investment-banking fees rose, profit margins at Merrill’s brokerage reached an all-time high and earnings from fund management doubled.

– Bloomberg News

PUBLISHING

WALL STREET JOURNAL TO SELL FRONT-PAGE ADS In a break with longtime tradition, the Wall Street Journal announced yesterday that the newspaper would start selling front-page advertising.The ads will probably begin appearing in September, and they are projected to command some of highest prices the Journal charges for ad real estate.

Most modern American newspapers don’t permit ads on their front pages, but some Gannett papers, along with several free city commuter dailies, have opened up their front pages to ads. The New York Times has begun selling ad space on the front pages of its Metro and Business Day sections.

The Journal is owned by Dow Jones & Company.

– Special to the Sun

IN THE BOARDROOM

GOLDMAN SACHS MAKES KEY EXECUTIVE CHANGES Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the no. 2 American securities firm, promoted Richard Gnodde to co-chief executive officer of the firm’s international unit and named David Solomon a cohead of investment banking.

– Bloomberg News