"We have fallen and we really want to get back up," Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz said as she kicked off an all-day meeting with financial analysts. "We really want to get back on our tippy toes."

Bartz vowed to make the company more profitable, and said she hoped Wednesday's session would win back some of the respect that the company lost as two previous CEOs were unable to deliver on their turnaround promises.

As a first step, Yahoo pledged to boost its operating profit margin to a range of 15 percent to 20 percent by 2012, up from just 6 percent this year -- a performance Bartz derided as "pathetic."

Although it didn't set a specific timetable for hitting a target, Yahoo said it believes it can increase its annual revenue by nearly $1.5 billion. The company, based in Sunnyvale, thinks it [will] rake in the extra money doing a better job of capitalizing on a marketing shift to the Internet in the U.S. and expanding its market share internationally.

Yahoo expects it revenue this year to be about $6.4 billion, a decline of roughly 11 percent from 2008. Management also plans to increase profits by weeding out expenses, simplifying its computer coding and eliminating wasteful spending. Yahoo already has trimmed its work force by 13 percent, or 2,000 jobs, during the past year.

Wednesday's meeting marked the first time that Yahoo provided analysts with an extended overview of its strategy in 3 1/2 years. Most public companies hold the presentations, known as "analyst days," every year or two. The Associated Press monitored Yahoo's meeting through a webcast.

Yahoo has been losing ground to Google Inc. and other hot Web sites, such as Facebook. The problems have hurt Yahoo's earnings and revenue, contributing to a 47 percent drop in its stock price that has wiped out about $19 billion in shareholder wealth since the last analyst day.

Yahoo shares fell 65 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close Wednesday at $16.04.

Most of Wednesday's meeting was devoted to a procession of management executives elaborating on improvements to the company's Web site.

Among other things, the executives detailed how a makeover of Yahoo's home page is getting people to spend more time on the Web site and providing more opportunities to show the advertising that generates most of the company's revenue. (continued...)

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