SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Marissa Mayer, who earned a reputation for decisive action and intensity during her 13-year stint at Google Inc, has spent her first months as Yahoo Inc CEO quietly moving the Internet pioneer back to its roots in technology.

Long torn between whether it should focus on media content or on tools and technologies, Yahoo under Mayer is being positioned firmly in the latter camp, according to sources inside and outside the company.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc’s quarterly results fell well short of Wall Street’s expectations after its core advertising business slowed, stunning investors accustomed to consistently rapid growth from the Internet giant and wiping more than 9 percent off its market value.

The disappointing numbers on Thursday came hours ahead of schedule in a rare instance of premature filing. Google blamed the misfire on an unauthorized filing by its financial printers, RR Donnelley & Sons Co, and later confirmed the numbers’ accuracy.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc inadvertently released its draft quarterly results hours ahead of schedule, missing expectations on both revenue and earnings and wiping 9 percent off the market value of the Internet search and advertising leader.

Google said its financial printers, RR Donnelley, filed its draft results statement without authorization. The company said it was working now to finalize the statement.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc hired
Henrique de Castro, a Google Inc executive, to be its
chief operating officer, the latest move by Yahoo Chief
Executive Marissa Mayer to build a new management team at the
struggling Web company.

De Castro, who will oversee Yahoo’s global sales,
operations, media and business development, will be eligible for
a whopping $58 million total compensation package, according to
an SEC filing by Yahoo on Monday.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Google Inc
Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt expects more than a billion
mobile devices around the world to be running its Android
software within a year, intensifying a battle with Apple Inc
that he called a “defining fight” of the industry.

Schmidt said there were already four times as many Android
mobile gadgets – smartphones and tablets made by the likes of
Samsung Electronics – and that the scale of the
battle between the two firms was unprecedented.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Facebook Inc is
testing a feature that lets users of the social network create
“wishlists” of home furnishings, clothing and other retail
products, laying the groundwork for what some believe could be
an eventual push into e-commerce.

Facebook said it is working with seven retailers, including
Pottery Barn and Victoria’s Secret, to test the new feature that
will allow certain users to flag images of desired products by
clicking a special “want” button.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Joe Lockhart, Facebook Inc’s head of global communications and a former press secretary for President Bill Clinton, is leaving the social networking company, Facebook said.

Lockhart, who is the latest high-profile executive to depart Facebook following its disappointing initial public offering in May, is leaving 15 months after joining the world’s No.1 social network.

By Alexei Oreskovic

(Reuters) – Google Inc raised its estimate of the cost of job cuts at its money-losing Motorola Mobility unit in the third quarter and warned of “significant” additional charges from further restructuring.

Severance-related charges at its mobile phone unit will be 9 percent higher at $300 million, Google said, adding the bill may rise another $40 million in the quarter after the exit of facilities and markets.

Oct 4 (Reuters) – Google Inc raised its estimate of
the cost of job cuts at its money-losing Motorola Mobility unit
in the third quarter and warned of “significant” additional
charges from further restructuring.

Severance-related charges at its mobile phone unit will be 9
percent higher at $300 million, Google said, adding the bill may
rise another $40 million in the quarter after the exit of
facilities and markets.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Facebook Inc is
letting users in the United States pay a fee to boost the
visibility of their postings on the social network, the
company’s latest effort to look beyond advertisers for revenue.

The promoted-posts-for-users feature, which Facebook began
offering as a test on Wednesday to a limited number of its U.S.
users, ensures that a comment or photo shared by a Facebook
member gets prominent billing in their friends’ newsfeeds.