For Yahoo, It Seems, It’s Always Groundhog Day
by Kara Swisher
Posted on January 30, 2008 at 2:52 AM PT
Oh dear.
Even more waiting for Yahoo to turn itself around? Until 2009? Really? Another 100 days, and another, and another and then more than half of another?
This is starting to feel very, very familiar.
Too familiar.
Well, it did take seven months to replace Farzad Nazem as CTO at a–um, well–technology-dependent company, so perhaps the glacial pace of non-change change planned for the Internet giant should not come as too much of a surprise.
Still, any surprise or new development from Yahoo might be more welcomed by Wall Street, which decidedly did not like much of what it heard from CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang or other Yahoo top execs during their fourth quarter and year-end earnings session yesterday.
After the underwhelming call, which came after the markets had closed, Yahoo shares were off almost 10% in after-hours trading, falling below a dangerous $20 level to $18.89.
Or, as I like to call it, takeover territory. Or even, as many media and tech players I talked to recently have been suggesting more fervently, the land where Yahoo merges with AOL or eBay.
But, really, who knows? Even, it seems, Jerry Yang.
He used the term “head winds” to characterize Yahoo’s sober guidance for the future, even as Yahoo had a sharp drop-off in net profit for the quarter.
Oddly, he did not highlight the much ballyhooed layoffs, which might number about 1,000. Or not–because some laid off can look for other jobs at Yahoo in more promising product areas. Got that?
I don’t and that’s probably the most critical problem Yahoo faces. Still, right after the call, Yang and his top execs went back into the cone of silence they have been living in, which is located in their cozy cave of noncommunication, without further comment.
Incredibly, reporters were asked to email or text any follow-up questions and given no access to anyone in charge.
While Yang and others there often note that they have their heads down–remember, there are scary head winds out there and potential hair-mussing dangers!–and don’t have time for such things, even Punxsutawney Phil knows that the only way winter ends is if you come out of your hole and don’t get scared looking at your own shadow.
Comments
I enjoy this column greatly, but the recent and incessant Yahoo bashing is getting a little tired.
The masthead to this site promises “news, analysis and opinion about the digital revolution” but it seems like every day we’re seeing the same criticisms of Yahoo rehashed using a different, biting metaphor. Sacred cows? Groundhog day? We get it. Yahoo is fading. Let’s move on, shall we? And let’s not take delight in the layoffs of 1,000 hardworking employees either. I know that’s not your intent, but that’s the perceived tone.
Hate to say it, but in your words, “this [blog] too is starting to feel very, very familiar.”
Let’s look ahead at the true digital revolution that’s underway.
Posted by Eric Larson at January 30th, 2008 at 1:58 pmErik:
It is hard to ignore Yahoo this week and it is a very important story, given it is the #1 site on the Internet in terms of overall traffic. The management weakness and difficulty in reviving itself might be boring to you by now, but it is critical to cover.
As to having delight at layoffs, I think you are misreading me. I am appalled by it and have been writing about the turmoils of Yahoo and the need for change for over a year, just so something like this would not happen.
And, while you might not notice it, I do original reporting on lots of different companies almost every single day of the week, from digital happenings in Germany to checking in with the VCs behind Funny Or Die to Mac World to CES to new trends in online video.
But, like it or not, yesterday had to be Yahoo-centric.
Posted by Kara Swisher at January 30th, 2008 at 6:36 pmErik, you are right!
Posted by te et at January 31st, 2008 at 3:47 ami’m with kara on this one.
continued hard analysis & introspection for the #1 web property by traffic — and very much *not* #1 by other measures — would seem to be quite appropriate and relevant. particularly during their earnings week.
you guys want to find more relevant topics for your world, maybe you should be reading LookingGlassDaily.com
seriously.
Posted by dave mcclure at February 1st, 2008 at 2:37 am