Yahoo beat analyst expectations for its first-quarter revenues by $30 million, $1.35 billion to $1.32 billion. Its net income, at $542 million, was considerably higher than Wall Street had hoped for, too. But $401 million of that profit came from a noncash gain, Yahoo's take from Alibaba.com's initial public offering, from which Yahoo profited because it owns 39 percent of Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com's parent company. Investors have taken this caveat into account, bidding Yahoo's stock slightly down in after-hours trading. Commenter WagCurious wants to tar and feather Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen for including these gains in Yahoo's quarterly revenues. But one-time gains like this are a well-understood phenomenon, and there's nothing unusual about Yahoo's treatment of it. If nothing else, Wall Street understands making money from buying and selling pieces of companies.

Yahoo China today began job cuts that could close some of its new media units, according to RedLine China. The news comes as Alibaba Group, the owner of Yahoo China, announced it would start new search and advertising groups. What's wrong with Yahoo's efforts in those areas? Yahoo China is not a Yahoo subsidiary; Yahoo swapped its Chinese unit for a stake in Alibaba. These cutbacks seem unrelated to Yahoo's pending layoffs — but it's telling that Alibaba thinks it's better off with homegrown efforts than the businesses it inherited from Yahoo.