Performance exceeds expectations Yahoo exceeded financial analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings in its fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, 2004, the provider of Web content and Internet services said Tuesday.Yahoo, in Sunnyvale, California, attributed the strong results to a continued increase in use of its Web site network, which in turn boosted the company’s ability to sell advertising and fee-based services.Revenue grew 62 percent to $1.078 billion compared with 2003’s fourth quarter. Excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC), Yahoo’s revenue rose 54 percent to $785 million, exceeding the consensus expectation of $756 million from analysts polled by Thomson First Call. TAC is the portion of revenue that Yahoo pays to the third-party affiliates of its Overture online ad network. Meanwhile, net income came in at $372.52 million, or $0.25 per share, up from $75.02 million, or $0.05 per share, in 2003’s fourth quarter. Excluding an investment gain of $185 million, or $0.13 per share from the sale of Google shares, Yahoo’s net income was $187 million, or $0.13 per share, exceeding analysts’ consensus expectations by $0.02. Software Development