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12 items tagged "News and Yahoo"

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• 

  Yahoo Loses Another CEO: This Is Beyond Ridiculous

  Fetched: May 15th, 2012, 2:41am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo has been going through CEOs like toilet paper recently.

  Their latest CEO, Scott Thompson was named in January and Yahoo four months has announced that he has resigned for personal reasons.

  This comes days after days after Thompson's resume issue where he had on their he had a computer science degree and then the vultures went after him. On Sunday he announced he is stepping down for personal reasons and the Wall Street Journal reports he has thyroid cancer.

  I wasn't a fan of Yahoo's recent CEOs including Bartz and Thompson. In my opinion, Bartz did not realize how important search is/was to Yahoo's future and handed over everything to Microsoft. Thompson's big move was to drop 15% of Yahoo - but I honestly didn't get to know him because he was only there for a few months.

  The one sign was that as soon as Thompson came on board, co-founder and the soul of Yahoo, Jerry Yang resigned from Yahoo. Not a good sign.

  Ross Levinsohn was named the interim Chief Executive Officer until they find a replacement, effective immediately.

  Good luck Ross. Good luck Yahoo! Wouldn't it be nice if Yahoo made the Apple turn around? Although, I really don't think Yahoo is at risk of running out of money? Which might be a more dangerous thing in terms of innovation.

  More coverage at Techmeme.

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Restructuring: Search = Connections

  Fetched: April 12th, 2012, 5:26am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  As expected, Yahoo cut employees and restructured, and AllThingsD has the CEO's memo which discusses how the restructuring will look.

  Yahoo is breaking themselves into three main groups; Consumer, Regions and Technology.

  Yahoo Search, whatever is left of it, is part of Consumer. Consumer is then broken into three groups; Media, Connections and Commerce. Yahoo Search, whatever is left of it, is part of Connections.

  Connection is being led by Shashi Seth, who is currently the Senior Vice President of Search & Marketplaces at Yahoo. Seth's role will expand well beyond and include more properties. Yahoo's new CEO explained:

  Connections will be led by Shashi Seth, and include consumer businesses that connect and inform our users including Search, Communications and Social properties such as Mail, Messenger, Flickr, Answers, and more. The highest priority for Shashi and his team will be to think well beyond how users search, communicate and share online today. The Connections team is charged with fundamentally re-imagining how we design and deliver the next generation of these foundational Yahoo experiences.

  FYI, Yahoo uses the term "connections" for your contacts within the Yahoo network. So search is falling under properties including Yahoo Mail, Messenger, Flickr, Answers and more.

  Interesting times for Yahoo.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Lays Off 15% Of Work Force

  Fetched: April 6th, 2012, 4:21am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo's new CEO, Scott Thompson, has continued Carol Bartz trimming of the company by laying off almost 15% of their staff. The company was at about 15,000 or so employees and has announced they are dropping 2,000 additional employees.

  Scott Thompson explained:

  Today's actions are an important next step toward a bold, new Yahoo! â" smaller, nimbler, more profitable and better equipped to innovate as fast as our customers and our industry require. We are intensifying our efforts on our core businesses and redeploying resources to our most urgent priorities. Our goal is to get back to our core purpose â" putting our users and advertisers first â" and we are moving aggressively to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, reaching that goal requires the tough decision to eliminate positions. We deeply value our people and all they've contributed to Yahoo!.

  Back when they laid off 4% of their staff right before Christmas holidays in 2010, I said they are not just giving up on search but also giving up on their future. Now? Well, they will save $375 million by firing their most loyal workers but hey, that is a heck of a lot of money to save.

  At this point, I really don't care as much. A year ago, I'd get all upset and fired up. But Yahoo is no longer the Yahoo we grew to love. Yahoo is another company. If anything, Yang leaving is a testament to that.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo's 17th Birthday

  Fetched: March 2nd, 2012, 8:16pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Today is the 17th birthday of Yahoo.

  A company that we and the internet grew up with. A company we all loved at one point. A company that has struggled big time for the past five years or so. A company that helped Google get to where they are today. A company that helped breed some of the smartest internet minds.

  This is the first birthday that Jerry Yang is not a part of since he resigned from Yahoo. I am hoping Scott Thompson can turn things around for them but I am not betting on it. Of course, I will never forgive them for giving up on search and firing my friends but they are a new company now.

  Happy Birthday Yahoo.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  These are the cupcakes being given out at Yahoo for the big day. Image credit to Jennifer Davies on Flickr.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo's Co-Founder, Jerry Yang, Resigns

  Fetched: January 19th, 2012, 7:09pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that Yahoo's co-founder, Jerry Yang has resigned from Yahoo effective immediately.

  Yang told the Yahoo board:

  My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.

  This comes a couple weeks after Yahoo hired a new CEO, Scott Thompson. Yang took over as CEO of Yahoo in 2007 and then a year later was ousted from that position.

  In any event, it is sad to see an internet legend leave the company he helped co-found. Yahoo was a great company and in the past several years have not found their way. Will Yang stepping down help Yahoo find their way - I don't think so but maybe it will give it a clear headspace?

  Google's Bradley Horowitz, former Yahoo employee, but now head of Google+, said on Google+ a very passionate thing about Yang:

  Wow. I didn't expect this, and wouldn't have expected this news to matter to me... but it does.

  I worked at Yahoo for four years, and had an amazing, life-changing experience. Much of this was due to Jerry's support and enthusiasm for what I was trying to get done. Most of the projects under my purview (Flickr, Brickhouse, Yahoo Research Berkeley, Hack Days, etc.) flew against the grain of "Yahoo as Usual", and would have failed without Jerry's explicit endorsement. That he not only allowed me to do this, but encouraged me to (and funded the efforts) is something I deeply appreciate.

  Best wishes to whatever is next for you Jerry. Thank you for giving me a chance to be part of Yahoo's history.

  Thanks for sharing this Bradley! Best wishes to Jerry Yang for helping to build the internet as we know it.

  Forum discussion at Google+ & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Scott Thompson Is Yahoo's New CEO

  Fetched: January 6th, 2012, 2:46pm CET by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo has announced their new CEO. The new CEO is Scott Thompson, the President of PayPal.

  Thompson starts his new job at Yahoo on January 9th. He replaces the interim CEO, Tim Morse, who will go back to his position as the CFO. Tim stepped in when Yahoo fired Bartz, who replaced Jerry Yang in January 2009. Yang of course replaced Terry Semel in 2007.

  I wonder if he will last more than a couple years. I hope so. I'd love to see him bring back Yahoo's investment in search but I doubt that will happen.

  Here is the PR pitch:

  Thompson served most recently as President of PayPal, a division of eBay, where he continued his established track record of growing businesses by driving customer engagement built on strong technology platforms. Under his leadership, PayPal solidified its lead as the global online payment service, expanding its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million active users in 190 countries worldwide, increasing the number of merchant partners to more than 8 million globally, and growing revenues from $1.8 billion to $4+ billion in 2011.

  "Scott brings to Yahoo! a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo!," said Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board. "His deep understanding of online businesses combined with his team building and operational capabilities will restore the energy, focus, and momentum necessary to grow the core business and deliver increased value for our shareholders. The search committee and the entire Board concluded that he is the right leader to return the core business to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation."

  "Yahoo! is an industry icon and I am very excited about the prospect of working with one of the great teams in the online world to deliver Yahoo!'s next era of success," Mr. Thompson said. "Yahoo! has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm. With the ultimate goal of delivering the value our shareholders expect, my immediate focus will be on getting to know the entire team and hearing more from all Yahoo!s, working closely with the engineers and product teams, and diving deeply into our products and services to learn more about what our more than 700 million users find most engaging and useful. I will also be working directly with our region leaders and sales teams globally to get a clearer understanding of the needs of our advertisers and publishers. Clearly, speed is important but we will attack both the opportunity ahead and the competitive challenges with an appropriate balance of urgency and thoughtfulness. I cannot wait to get started."

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Up For Sale Again? Google Potential Buyer?

  Fetched: October 25th, 2011, 3:08pm CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is potentially interested in helping private equity firms buy a stake or all of Yahoo. The article says:

  Google and prospective partners have held early-stage discussions but haven't put together a formal proposal and Google may end up not pursuing a bid, this person said. It is unclear which private-equity firms Google has talked to.

  But at the same time, there are rumors of Microsoft also looking to buy Yahoo. Yes, these are the same types of rumors we had years ago, prior to Carol Bartz giving Yahoo away to Microsoft. But now, things may be different.

  Yahoo's co-founder is also saying that Yahoo is not for sale - a lot of these rumors may be true or may be just out there to generate interest in larger bids for Yahoo.

  Greg Sterling's take is that Yahoo is a pawn in all of this:

  Any deal involving Google will be subject to close federal review. However thatâs less likely with Microsoft in the scenario described above. Regardless of who winds of owning Yahoo, it will take vision and inspired leadership (not merely competent management) to reverse the long, slow decline that has taken hold at the company.

  No one really can see Google being allowed to buy Yahoo but let's see what happens.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo's Poor Earnings Blamed On Microsoft Ad Deal

  Fetched: April 24th, 2011, 10:27am CEST by Barry Schwartz

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo announced their earnings Tuesday night and it was not pretty, especially on the search side. Search revenue was $357 million, a 19 percent decrease compared to $440 million for the first quarter of 2010.

  Carol Bartz threw Microsoft, their search ad partner (the ones Yahoo sold out to and gave up on search for), under the bus.

  Yahoo's CEO, Bartz said:

  "adCenter isn't yet producing the RPS we hoped for and are confident as possible. Advertisers are seeing strong ROI (return on investment), but technical limitations in the current adCenter platform mean the click volumes just isn't there yet. We had expected RPS to be neutral by midyear, it's now evident that it will take Microsoft longer to achieve that goal. We expect that to happen by year-end. In the meantime, the RPS guaranty helps protect our revenue and our view of the long-term potential of the marketplace remains unchanged.

  "We are working very close with Microsoft on this. They understand the issues and they're hard at work on systems architecture, science models and better features and functions in adCenter. They have an aggressive roadmap to bring those to the marketplace."

  Danny covered this well under his story named The Yahoo Search Revenue Disaster. A picture tells the story well:

  Anyway, it is just Yahoo's sad story that continues on and on.

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo Looking To Sell Again? This Time, I'm All For It

  Posted: October 14th, 2010, 3:10pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Before Yahoo handed over their search engine and search ads to Microsoft, Microsoft actually made several bids to buy Yahoo. Yahoo, under founder Jerry Yang, rejected those bids time and time again.

  Ultimately, under Carol Bartz, Yahoo made a deal with Microsoft for Yahoo to give up on their own search technology, let Microsoft power and control that, for ad income and reduced cost on running a search engine.

  Now, there are rumors via the Wall Street Journal, Kara Swisher and others that Yahoo is putting themselves out there for bidders.

  AOL Inc. and several private-equity firms are exploring making an offer to buy Yahoo Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, devising a bold plan to marry two big Internet brands facing steep challenges.

  Silver Lake Partners and Blackstone Group LP are among the firms that have expressed interest in teaming up with AOL to buy Yahoo or trying to take it private on their own, these people said. They added that at least two or three other firms could be interested in participating if a formal buyout proposal is drawn up.

  Prior, I was never for it. But now, heck, Yahoo go for it. What do you have to lose now, at least on the search side. :)

  Forum discussion at Google Blogoscoped Forums & WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  SEOs & Publishers Mock Yahoo For Discovering Search Trends For News Creation

  Posted: July 6th, 2010, 3:33pm CEST by rustybrick

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  One of the most basic SEO strategies for content development is the process of determining what people are searching for in your niche so you can target those keywords. When it comes to news sites, even sites with a niche as specific of this one, you must look at search trends. SEOs and publishers have been using search trends reports, such as Google Hot Trends, Twitter Trends, Yahoo Buzz and other keyword tools to discover trending searches and benefit from them.

  Like I said, we occasionally do it here and it works. You hit a forming wave on searches, and rank well on that wave, you can generate a ton of traffic quickly - which makes advertisers happy.

  According to the New York Times, Yahoo, one of the biggest online news agencies in the world, just discovered this as a tactic. They are going to create a blog and staff it based on just writing content based on search trends.

  Yahoo software continuously tracks common words, phrases and topics that are popular among users across its vast online network. To help create content for the blog, called The Upshot, a team of people will analyze those patterns and pass along their findings to Yahoo’s news staff of two editors and six bloggers.

  The news staff will then use that search data to create articles that — if the process works as intended — will allow them to focus more precisely on readers.

  Of course, SEOs and Webmasters are mocking this strategy at WebmasterWorld. Here are some comments:

  Ahh, so now Yahoo's staff will start writing or aggregating content based on what people are searching for. Excuse me if I'm not excited by this. Should I expect we'll be seeing lots of celebrity gossip, erotica, discussions about the latest episode of Jersey Shore, and inane articles about Justin Beiber?

  Wow, after all this time Yahoo discovered trend analysis?

  What'll they think of next week, fire?

  Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

  
  

• 

  Yahoo! Outsources its Messenger Phone Calls to Jajah

  Posted: April 29th, 2008, 6:19pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  According to a Yahoo News report, Yahoo will be outsourcing the Internet telephone functions of its instant messaging program to the startup Jajah.

  Of course, this is great news for the startup -- but forum members wonder why Yahoo seems to be outsourcing a lot of its internal affairs. However, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, as another forum member says. The less important things are fine if outsourced; the more important things are when one needs to worry. As long as they focus on what they're good at and keep it internal (web, email, search), that's the way to go and avoids the distractions that can cause the company to go into turmoil.

  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

• 

  Yahoo's Q1 Profits: $542.2 Million

  Posted: April 24th, 2008, 5:40pm CEST by Tamar Weinberg

  Tags:  Yahoo News  

  Yahoo News reports on Yahoo's Q1 earnings of $542.2 million, which is substantially higher than 2007's Q1 earnings of $142.4 million.

  Forum members are hoping there can be insights into this financial gain. WebmasterWorld moderator martinibuster quotes Jerry Yang's comment: "Not only does Yahoo! have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people."

  He adds that Yahoo is shutting down their tools that aren't yielding results (e.g. Yahoo 360 and Yahoo Music Jukebox). It's interesting to note that Yang says that Yahoo has great people, though. Does he also mean the employees that were laid off in January?

  
  Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.