Read all about it -- Yahoo's doing ... nothing!

Remember Jerry Yang's 100 Day Plan? The one that promised a new game plan with "no sacred cows?" We're almost to the halfway mark (Day 56, counting weekends, but isn't that what fast-track executives do?) and so far, there's precious little going on. Check out Kevin Delaney's WSJ piece today, which points to barn-burners like adding social networking features to its email and hiring Stone Yamashita partners to help them refocus (disclosure: I have a brilliant relative who works there). Delaney quotes Glen Kacher of Integral Capital partners, who dumped his Yahoo! holdings after meeting with top executives there in August, saying we "decided that the management isn't considering the kind of transformational changes that would be required to improve their position in the market." Ouch.

8:42 AM on Mon Sep 10 2007
By Evelyn Nussenbaum
2,131 views
8 comments

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ck209 at 09:42 AM on 09/10/07
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The link to WSJ is broken.
Megan McCarthy at 09:51 AM on 09/10/07
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Sorry about that, should be fixed now.
Blogation at 11:20 AM on 09/10/07
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Will someone from Microsoft please buy Yahoo? Or eBay? I'd even be happy with a private equity company.
search.scientist at 11:45 AM on 09/10/07
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The only way to be all things to all people is to splinter the current organization and let the various business units fend for themselves. That way solid products like New, Sports The 9 and Flickr won't have to carry disasters like Yahoo 360 and America's Next Top Model Rejects. Let a product actually turn a profit and let the products have the freedom to quickly adapt, grow and better partner with non-Yahoo sites. Just a thought but as the saying goes; "A good plan today is better that a perfect plan tomorrow."

Yahoo needs to stop thinking about just beating Google and start thinking more in the direction of IAC. A Google killer is more likely to come from left field (upstart) than from the Yahoo board room.
sample032 at 03:21 PM on 09/10/07
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Connectedness Index: 74
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@search.scientist: Google killer? They need a ChaCha killed ;)
Davion at 11:02 PM on 09/11/07
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The only way Yahoo will do well is to do an end-run around Google the way Pepsi did around Coke after losing the Cola Wars in the 80s. After losing the Cola Wars, Pepsi basically gave up on focusing on cola and began massively diversifying into other drink sectors like tea, water (Aquafina), sports drinks (Gatorade), and even non-beverage markets (Frito-Lay). In 2006, after 108 years of head-to-head competition, Pepsi's market cap exceeded Coke's.

They basically just changed the game, and of course corporate executives at Coke weren't going to follow - when you're the industry leader, you "play to your core competencies." And that's what Google's going to do, so Yahoo's only chance is to take the opportunity to broaden into markets that Google is too timid to really touch.
yah-who at 12:05 AM on 09/13/07
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Yahoo News? Solid.
Yahoo Sports? Solid.
Flickr? Solid.
The 9? Are you kidding?

No one watches this Lloyd leftover except Search.Scientist? If it weren't for the Pepsi sponsorship, The 9 would've died a long time ago. It's already on it's last legs.

Say what you want about the Top Model Rejects, but those shows got some of the highest stream counts, way better than The 9. And 360. Well it sucks but not as bad as what's coming down the pipeline.
search.scientist at 02:19 PM on 12/03/07
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@YAH-WHO: Solid streams??? I doubt it. Even if it was true.....show me the money! Monetization is the name of the game.