Valleywag
This morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made the usual polite noises about "integrating" Yahoo's management into Microsoft. The reality? Come on. They're all fired, except for the geeks. If Microsoft had any respect for current management, they would have negotiated a friendly deal instead of launching a takeover. Most of the executive suite will be gone, I bet, within six months if the takeover succeeds. Here are the details on who's in and who's out, starting at the top.
Jerry Yang, CEO He'll be a large Microsoft shareholder after the deal goes through, so it's likely he'll get a board seat. And perhaps he'll get to keep the "Chief Yahoo" title.
David Filo, cofounder Might be named a Microsoft Fellow, working in datacenter operations — as he prefers.
Sue Decker, President Gone. There's no position Microsoft can give her that will suit her ambitions. Not to mention the hash she's made of things at Yahoo.
Blake Jorgensen. CFO Gone. Microsoft doesn't need another CFO, and he's a close Decker ally.
Ari Balogh, CTO Bad timing: Balogh just left VeriSign for Yahoo this week. If he'll settle for a title below CTO, Microsoft might grudgingly make room for him.
Marco Boerries, EVP, Connected Life Gone. He's widely disliked within Yahoo, and Microsoft already has plenty of mobile dealmakers.
Michael Callahan, General Counsel Gone. First, we fire all the lawyers.
Gregory Coleman, EVP, Global Sales Already announced his "retirement." Even more gone than he already was.
Usama Fayyad, Chief Data Officer A keeper. Microsoft needs better data analysis.
Qi Lu, EVP, Engineering Search A keeper.
Michael Murray, Chief Accounting Officer Gone.
Jill Nash, Chief Communications Officer Could stay. Microsoft desperately needs better PR in the Valley.
Ash Patel, EVP, Platforms and Infrastructure Division Gone. He's already checked out, insiders say, but it will take a takeout to dislodge him from his desk.
Libby Sartain, Chief People Yahoo Already rumored to be out.
Hilary Schneider, EVP, Global Partner Solutions Could stay, though she's a Decker ally. Microsoft lacks credibility with newspapers, Schneider's strong suit.
Jeff Weiner, EVP, Network Division Gone. Weiner, a Semel guy, has managed to hold onto his job against the odds. But he's not respected in Redmond.
Comments
There's only one tie in the entire lineup, but I guess that's expected when the CEO also has the title of "Chief Yahoo!."
The person that needs to go is that Douche Brad Garlinghouse and his entourage of suck ups (you know who you are). All brad has managed to do is Run revenue and real innovation out of Mail and the rest of the C&C properties. Hey Brad, how's Mash doing? About is well as 360, eh? Keep spreading the peanutbutter...
@exhoo: What are you talking about? 360 is a brilliant product! (not really)
what are the odds this was planned at the highest levels months ago over coffee, hence the fat trimming announced by y! prior? that way it doesn't look like ms did it themselves.
as for Ari, bad timing? sounds like perfect timing to me! you know he has some advanced vesting/payout on ownership changes negotiated into his agreement. cha-mutha-fuckin-ching!
not that it really matters at the end of the day, i suppose. hopefully together they can keep google in check and some good yahoo tech types will end up on the market in the next few weeks/months (feel free to send me resumes ;)).
now, where'd i leave that tinfoil hat.....
-mike
As for the timing, both Gates and Yang were at WEF-Davos last week. The merger talks have probably been underway for a while. The 1,000 person lay-off more than a coincidence. But, I would bet the price was agreed last week in the Swiss Alps.
Agree about Usama Fayyed and Qi Lu - those two are the only execs at Yahoo who could add value to MSFT. Boerries being "wildly disliked" is an understatement - I've heard friends at yahoo describe him as the antichrist. And their PR head Nash? Yahoo's failed miserably in the press over the past year (has anyone heard a credible "message point" from Jerry or Sue lately?), so why on earth would MSFT want to keep her on board?
Re: Ari Balogh, CTO
Bad timing? How about fucking awesome timing! Homeboy just finagled himself a three-year paid vacation.
@manenfuego: Fair enough, though I'd attribute that more to Yang and Decker's thinly veiled loathing for the press than Nash's competency.
I agree with your assessment of Jerry, Filo, Sue, Blake, & Ari. As for the others:
Marco Boerries - probably gone regardless, as his 3 year vesting period is up in a few weeks. And to say he's disliked would be a vast understatement.
Mike Callahan - seems to be well liked and regarded, but why would he work for MS if he could be general counsel or venture partner somewhere else?
Coleman - already gone
Usama Fayyad - has a very busy schedule of visiting conferences, but few know what he actually does. He runs a huge team of data people that produce remarkably few valuable insights, and the Berkeley research lab who have come up with what? Despite his impressive resume, I don't see why MS would keep him.
Qi & Ash - It's interesting to note that if there are 14,300 people at the company, then the acquisition price of $45 billion works out to $3.15 million per head, or in terms of engineers, of which there are probably (generously) 8,500, $5.3 million per engineer. Probably worthe invesing in keeping these guys happy.
Mick - seems like a good guy - but MS already has an accounting department. They'll keep to handle the zillion accounting integration issues.
Jill - The process of lipsticking a corporate pig involves lots of PR. Still, that don't mean job for Jill.
Libby - why would they need another HR lead?
Hilary - Still pretty new. Runs the sales function, which isn't exactly a business. Regardless, someone is going to have to run sales, but in that she doesn't have a ton of experience, and yes, she's a Deckerite, so she's probably gone.
Jeff - Was Terry's boy when he joined, but he's grown a lot. He is probably the manager at Yahoo most capable of Ballmer style executive interrogation. He's runs a disciplined team. He's passionate, intelligent, articulate, and convincing. Keeper.
Marco may be widely disliked (ok perhaps "may be" is an understatement), but that doesn't mean he doens't get results. His groups are the only ones doing launches that seem to get accolades (Y! Go Mobile, buzz around some of the Connected Life work at CES, etc.) and he is much better connected in the industry than a lot of other Y! execs. And, the MSFT culture is one of confrontation and aggressive politics: Marco may fit in really well there, and his killer instincts could be a major asset. Remember, he still has more money that just about anyone else at Y! at his level, so he's not doing this for the paycheck. I can see MSFT actually wanting him to stay around. It's not like their mobile teams are gaining any traction with the likes of AAPL and GOOG gunning for the space...
Marco's results? Right! like the hoardes of people that actually use Yahoo Go? Do they even have a million users? I'll bet he has a dozen PR people on staff, 'cause the only real results he's delivered have been press releases.
You guys have no idea what you are talking about. In the tech engineering, yahoo only has two solid managers: Qi Lu and Usama Fayyad. Qi Lu runs all of search advertising, but made his rep building yahoo search. Usama Fayyad runs all data stuff and Yahoo! Research. Research is an amazing organization with success that is industry envy. Microsoft would love to have a Research lab like that, Fayyad gets the credit for building it right. Data is delivering lots of value to the company, the entire Behavioral Targeting business (Fayyad was founder of Revenue Science).
Of those two, Fayyad is probably the more solid manager. He knows how to hire and he has an obsession with hiring and even monitors every offer made. Talking of micromanagement, Qi Lu is solid but is legendary for his super-micro-management...
Glad to see all your comments turn out to be false. While Yahoo is messed up, it has some solid jewels in people and technologies...
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?