Yahoo reports a 5.2pc rise in total quarterly revenue

Yahoo has reported a 5.2 percent rise in total quarterly revenue, a sign of progress in its troubled core Internet business it is auctioning off.

Yahoo is in the process of auctioning off its search and advertising business and is expected to choose the final bidder this week. The company said its board has made “great progress o strategic alternatives” but did not comment further on the auction process.

Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N) are said to be in the running, as well as private equity firm TPG Capital and a consortium led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and backed by billionaire Warren Buffett.

Yahoo reported adjusted earnings of 9 cents per share, short of the 10 cents that analysts expected. It also announced a $482 million write-down on the value of Tumblr, the social media service that it acquired in 2013 for $1.1 billion.

Monday’s earnings report showed the continued slide in Yahoo’s business during the protracted sale process. After the Tumblr write-down, the company posted a net loss of $439.9 million, or 46 cents per share, compared with a loss of $21.6 million, or 2 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue in the company’s emerging businesses, which Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer calls Mavens - mobile, video, native and social advertising - showed some life, rising 25.7 percent to $504 million in the second quarter ended June 30.

Although total revenue rose to $1.31 billion from $1.24 billion a year earlier, the seeming improvement was the result of a change in the way the cost of acquiring traffic is counted. After deducting fees paid to partner websites for traffic, revenue fell to $841.2 million from $1.04 billion.