Posts tagged yahoo

Yahoo’s new CEO appears promising

Jan 7th

Posted by Kartik in Enabling Technologies

It’s good to see Yahoo’s decision to make Scott Thompson, Paypal’s President, their new CEO. The guy is a technologist and was previously the CTO of Paypal. I think it’s a good decision because what Yahoo needs right now is to return to its technology roots and become innovative again (rather than financial re-engineering, which was overdone under the previous CEO). The move will also help retain and attract technologists at the company.

As someone who was a regular user of several Yahoo products, I hope that Yahoo will reclaim its position as one of the leading (and growing) Internet companies.

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Room for Debate: Can Yahoo be Rescued

Nov 13th

Posted by Kartik in Enabling Technologies

I recently participated in New York Times’ “Room for Debate” series. The debate revolved around prospects for Yahoo’s recovery and was motivated by a recent article in which an analyst stated “We’ve never seen a turnaround of a fallen angel in the Internet space.” While some analysts were pessimistic, I was not willing to completely rule out the possibility of a Yahoo recovery. Specifically, I don’t see any reason why an Internet company is at a disadvantage in staging a recovery. A recovery should be just as possible in this sector as others. The bad news for Yahoo is that recoveries in general are rare so the odds apply for Yahoo as well.

Read more here.

Yahoo's Recovery

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Alibaba has cash to buy Yahoo

Oct 18th

Posted by Kartik in Enabling Technologies

According to recent news, Jack Ma of Alibaba has stated that Alibaba has the cash and the interest in buying Yahoo. This is funny given yahoo bought a 40% stake in Alibaba through a $1b investment in 2005.

While it’s not clear whether Yahoo’s board or US regulators would approve this, I think Jack Ma would be a good dynamic CEO for Yahoo.

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Yahoo’s challenges

Sep 17th

Posted by Kartik in Enabling Technologies

Knowledge@Wharton has a recent blog post on the challenges ahead for Yahho. The article titled “The Morse code at Yahoo” explores what the new/interim CEO needs to do to revive Yahoo.

Carol Bartz was aggressive early on with restructuring and downsizing, but she never successfully positioned herself as an innovative CEO who is seeking to bring new products and services to consumers. She once compared her job to that of Steve Jobs when he returned to Apple in 1997. Yet, what was missing was that innovative streak in Jobs wherein a great new exciting product was rolled out every few years.

So what does Yahoo need to do. As we all know, go find a new product/market that makes a difference to its topline. Hopefully, Yahoo does not waste time & effort trying to catch up with google at search/email or compete with facebook in social networking. And hopefully, Yahoo can find the next big thing. Or acquire it early.

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