News : Yahoo to cut 5 percent of jobs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said it would cut 5 percent of its workforce worldwide after reporting quarterly profit that met Wall Street expectations.

Shares of the Internet company rose 1 percent in after-hours trading.

In the first full three-month period under the leadership of CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo generated revenue of $1.58 billion, compared with $1.82 billion at this time last year. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, Yahoo's revenue was $1.16 billion compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.2 billion according to Reuters Estimates.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company reported a net profit in the first quarter of $118 million, or 8 cents a share -- down from $537 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street analysts, on average, had forecast earnings at 8 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Yahoo projected that sales in the current quarter will range between $1.425 billion and $1.625 billion.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Gary Hill)