Yahoo! Rolls Out New Homepage, Releases Second Quarter Earnings

Yahoo! is doing a couple of rather newsworthy things this week and you have to wonder if they were attempting to cancel each other out.

Yahoo! released quarterly earnings yesterday. Net income rose 8% over the second quarter of 2008, even though revenue fell by 13%. That’s likely due to periodic layoffs conducted to nix the bloated workforce.

“I’m pleased with our results this past quarter. We established a clear, simple vision to be the center of people’s lives online, and we’re backing that vision with important initiatives to create ‘wow’ experiences for our users,” said Yahoo! chief executive officer Carol Bartz.

The new homepage released this week (which is still technically in beta and you have to opt in by going to here) is supposed to be part of that “wow.” It’s been in the works for nearly a year and slowly has been unveiled to users since the announcement last September.

“We’re confident that this vision will put us on the right path to growth and profitability long term. Our new homepage is a perfect example of our efforts to create innovative products aimed at increasing user engagement while offering the most compelling advertising proposition in the industry.”

However, I’m not personally feeling the wow factor. I do use Yahoo! sites quite frequently and I won’t deny their strength. But there’s nothing wrong with being strong on stability instead of trying to impress the cool kids. (Geek is the new cool and Silicon Valley is Geekdom.)

All in all, I think Yahoo! is doing pretty darn good. They’re certainly not steps from the grave like some in the media and on Wall Street (those who are left) would like you to think.

What about you? How do you feel about the new Yahoo! homepage? What about Yahoo!’s earnings? Let us know by leaving a comment.