The Q2 profits that Yahoo reported Tuesday were shaky, down year-over-year from $164 million to $161 million, and its second-half forecasts were limp, which might explain why CEO Terry Semel bailed.

Semel's replacement Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang promised a new strategic plan in a hundred days, but Wall Street wants things turned around faster than that.

With Yahoo's shares down 18% or 19% in three months, Yang will likely be working under increasing pressure to sell, which of course reopens the question of Microsoft stepping into the breach.

Revenues less payments to advertising partners were $1.24 billion, roughly four times below Google's. The company is expecting Q3 margins to fall to 32%-34%. Yahoo's display ads, the company's strong suit, are feeling the pinch of social networking sites and growth has been moderated to the low teens. And that's before Google takes over DoubleClick, its foray into display advertising.