​Yahoo keeps shrinking as it looks for a buyer

SAN FRANCISCO -Yahoo has hung out a "for sale" sign without doing much to improve its curb appeal.

The latest snapshot of the Internet company's deteriorating condition emerged late Tuesday with the release of its first-quarter earnings report.

After subtracting ad commissions, Yahoo's (YHOO) revenue fell 18 percent from the same time last year, to $859 million. It's the largest decline in Yahoo's quarterly net revenue since the company hired Marissa Mayer as its CEO nearly four years ago.

Yahoo lost $99 million during the period, compared with a $21 million profit last year. A big chunk of the loss stemmed from the costs of laying off about 1,000 workers during the quarter to reduce the company's workforce to 9,400 employees through March.

"I'm pleased that we delivered Q1 results in line with our expectations," Mayer said in a statement. "Our 2016 plan is off to a solid start as we continue to focus on driving efficiency, lowering costs and improving long-term growth," Mayer said in a statement.

On a per-share basis, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said it had a loss of 10 cents. But adjusted for one-time gains and costs, earnings came to 8 cents per share. That topped Wall Street expectations for earnings of 7 cents per share.

Before subtracting ad commissions, Yahoo posted revenue of $1.09 billion in the period. The adjusted revenue of $859 million also beat Street forecasts of $846.1 million.

Yahoo shares have increased 9 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen almost 3 percent. In regular-hours trading on Tuesday, shares lost 0.5 percent and closed at $36.33. In after-hours trading following the earnings release, investors were focusing on the better-than-expected results, pushing the shares up around 1.5 percent, or 59 cents.

The company is still considering whether to sell its Internet operations. Mayer said the company has made "substantial progress" identifying possible strategic alternatives for shareholders.

Companies reported to be mulling bids for all or parts of Yahoo include British tabloid The Daily Mail, CBSNews.com corporate parent CBS Corp. (CBS), Barry Diller's InterActiveCorp (IAC), magazine publisher Time (TIME) and telecom Verizon Communications (VZ).