All Things Digital

Be careful what you wish for, Jerry Yang.

Because after talking to a dozen Yahoo (YHOO) execs over the weekend after the Microsoft (MSFT) takeover deal cratered, most of whom are vice presidents or above, I have to say that your stock drop isn’t the worst thing you will have to deal with this morning when you pull up at work.

The worst? That’ll be the very hairy eyeballs you will be getting from a lot more of your employees, who are scared silly and a lot peeved by the limb many feel you have dragged them and their stock options out onto.

A major decline in the share price today was of prime concern to those I interviewed, with most hoping it would not dip below $20, based on the possibility of signing a long-rumored ad outsourcing deal with Google (GOOG) soon that could potentially keep the stock higher.

Also of concern: making too many sudden moves to placate Wall Street, like a possible alternative merger with AOL (TWX) (which the Yahoo troops still don’t seem to welcome).

But causing particular dismay was the image of Yahoo’s top execs high-fiving after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer walked away from the deal, an act reported in the New York Times this weekend after the deal was scotched.

“That was very telling, if it was true,” said one exec, who–like everyone–did not want to be named. “It shows a complete lack of connection to the balance of the company.”

And that was the nice quote!

Last night, Yang tried to placate employees a bit by posting an aptly named communication, “OK, so now what,” on Yahoo’s blog called (not so aptly) Yodel Anecdotal. He also took a slap at, presumably, Microsoft’s PR effort and the press coverage around the takeover attempt.

“By the way, I’m sure you’ve all read or watched the news about this. Frankly, there’s a lot of nonsense and misinformation in what’s being reported. Just so we are all clear, here’s what happened. The board took its mission very seriously. We clearly indicated to Microsoft that we were open to a transaction but only if it were on terms that fully recognized the value of Yahoo and was in the best interests of our stockholders.

“No one is celebrating about the outcome of these past three months… and no one should.”

So no high-fiving anymore, right? And, just so we are all clear, everyone at Yahoo I talked to sure isn’t celebrating.

So, here’s a sampling of the feelings, none of which were positive, even though BoomTown tried mightily to get someone to render a more sanguine spin on the proceedings:

“I am in shock.”

“I don’t know if we won or we lost. I think we lost.”

“I don’t love that it was Microsoft, but I think everyone thought $33 was a pretty good offer from a pretty good tech company.”

“Having to face my staff tomorrow will not be so much fun and I need some Prozac, since I don’t know what I can say to them about how our leadership is going to get our company going again.”

“Where’s the Jelly memo when you need it?”

“I can’t really talk to Jerry, since it is difficult to tell a founder tough things he probably needs to hear.”

And, “Do you think we need to do an intervention with Jerry and the board?”

I am not sure that would work, but most employees I talked to thought a new leader at the top of Yahoo would be a good idea to give employees a fresh start and a new outlook.

Suggestions ranged from former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig to former Viacom (VIA) CEO Tom Freston to former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman (pictured here).

“Jerry could become chairman, Sue [Decker] could remain president and then someone who can really charge in and make drastic change could be CEO,” suggested one exec. “Do you think Meg Whitman would do it?”

Um, no. But, ironically, Whitman was almost Yahoo CEO in a potential merger between Yahoo and eBay that never happened in the late 1990s.

As they will also say someday about 2008’s stillborn takeover of Yahoo by Microsoft: Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve.

But didn’t.

After BoomTown broke the news yesterday that top Google exec Sheryl Sandberg was tapped by Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg to be COO of the hot social-networking company, I talked with her and got the usual blah-blah quotes about scaling and growing operations and building a platform and how she wasn’t leaving Google as much as “going to an opportunity.”

But, as loyal readers will find out in the weeks and months ahead, she is sure to make for a much more lively new character in our ongoing and near-obsessive coverage of the Facebook saga, which we at BoomTown HQ like to call “As the SuperPoke Turns.”

It is certainly an interesting bet for Sandberg to make the move from the powerful Google (GOOG) to the upstart Facebook. And whether she wins or loses, it will be fascinating to watch.

But fried as she was late last night when we talked after the big announcement was finally made and deserving of a break, BoomTown will bring you a sassier sit-down with Sandberg after she clears out of the Googleplex Friday after six years (wherein all her rights to unlimited visits to the organic soba latte barista and shiatsu massage therapist will be suspended tout de suite!).

So until then, here are some sizzling tidbits about Sandberg (pictured here, with those soon-to-vanish colored Google exercise balls) to chew on:

The 2007 holiday party where Sandberg met Zuckerberg for the first time was thrown by former Yahoo president and COO Dan Rosensweig, who is close to both (apparently, BoomTown’s invite, where I could have witnessed this historic meeting, was lost in the mail!). Interestingly, Rosensweig himself was someone Zuckerberg probably considered bringing into Facebook.

One plus for the socially awkward Zuckerberg is that Sandberg–who spent her formative years swimming in the shark-infested waters of Washington, D.C., as chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Larry Summers during the Clinton administration–has struck a lot of friendships around the Valley. That includes Google rival Yahoo (YHOO), where her husband David Goldberg once headed up the music efforts. Yahoo President Sue Decker is a good friend, for example.

Sandberg even seems to make nice with VCs (she has to, as her husband is now an entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Partners). According to Facebook board member and major investor Jim Breyer of Accel, for example: “I met her in 2001 at the U2 Concert in San Jose. Bono called her name out in front of the whole crowd thanking her for the work she had done with Larry Summers. We (including Bono) all went out for drinks afterwards. Little did I know that it would be a 23-year-old entrepreneur who would finally allow me to recruit her.”

Ah, the sweet ironies of the Valley!

Speaking of which, here’s a video I did in June, with a longish chat with the then-pregnant Sandberg at the start, where we talk about the status of women–or lack thereof–in Silicon Valley.

The occasion was one of Sandberg’s regular gatherings, which she organizes at her home in Atherton, Calif., and which she calls “Women of Silicon Valley.” (Alternatively, BoomTown has dubbed them “ladyfests.”)

The events feature a wide range of speakers, talking to a broad swath of typically high-ranking women technology executives from Internet, software and hardware companies, as well as from other walks of life, about a range of issues. This one was with political pundit and Web diva Arianna Huffington.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

If Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is serious about finding a true No. 2 to replace outgoing exec Owen Van Natta and more, then BoomTown has certainly at least two cents to add.

So here is our list of ideas, which include a number of women execs, since a list that Facebook has made apparently includes a few women too.

(And we applaud that, especially since, as you can see from this page at the social-networking site, there are none in its current top management.)

But you do have to begin with the menfolk, since the top choice of mine is one.

That would be someone that Facebook has already looked at, former eBay exec Jeff Jordan (pictured here). Jordan and Zuckerberg talked a lot last year, before Jordan headed off to lead OpenTable, the restaurant reservations service.

It would be hard to entice Jordan, a one-time contender for the top spot at eBay (EBAY), to leave OpenTable, given it is IPO-bound in the next year.

But he has the chops operationally, having led eBay’s North American unit and also its PayPal division. In other words, this man can scale.

But so can former Yahoo (YHOO) COO Dan Rosensweig (pictured here), who left the troubled Internet portal in late 2006, just before it started its long and painful descent into Microsoft’s bear-hug bid.

Rosensweig is now a principal and its-man-in-Silicon-Valley for the tony New York investment firm, the Quadrangle Group, so it is unlikely he would move over to Facebook.

More to the point, it also unclear how well his gregarious nature would mesh with Zuckerberg’s less social manner (although we would pay big bucks to see those two interacting on a daily basis). But Rosensweig, for all his joshing, has the leadership skills and deep contacts in the tech community.

And since Zuckerberg feels so comfy with Microsoft (MSFT), why not its savvy Chief Media Officer Joanne Bradford (pictured here). There, she “leads global product and platform development, content and programming, business development, product management, marketing and branded entertainment for MSN.”

Plus, she might not relish the idea of helping overhaul Yahoo, if that deal is struck, and has the ad sales and content experience too. Also, she is tough, but nice about it.

So is a sharp Facebook social-networking competitor, Bebo’s President Joanna Shields (pictured here). Based in London, she has worked at both Google (GOOG) and RealNetworks (RNWK) and has an international exposure Facebook needs.

Plus, she knows how to work with founders (in Bebo’s case, Michael and Xochi Birch) and has a charming, though squarely in-charge, demeanor.

Google, of course, has been a good headhunting ground for Facebook and the search giant has been fending off poaching off its execs by Facebook regularly.

But why not go for the big game, as there is a long list of prospects in the higher managment echelons of Google.

That includes: Tim Armstrong, president, Advertising and Commerce, North America; Marissa Mayer, vice president, Search Products & User Experience; Susan Wojcicki, vice president, Product Management; Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, president, Asia Pacific and Latin America Operations; David Fischer, vice president, Online Sales & Operations; Omid Kordestani, senior vice president, Global Sales & Business Development; Salar Kamangar, vice president, Product Management.

But we’re partial to a pair of hard-charging execs who lead critical nuts-and-bolts operations at Google: Sheryl Sandberg, vice president, Global Online Sales & Operations; and Shona Brown, senior vice president, Business Operations.

Sandberg (pictured here) is responsible for online sales of Google’s ad and publishing products, bringing experience Facebook sorely needs. She is also politically savvy, having been the chief of staff at the Treasury Department in the Clinton administration.

Former McKinsey consultant and author Shona Brown (pictured here) has been running Google’s business operations since 2003 and knows how to push around, oops, work with two headstrong founders at once. Thus, Zuckerberg would be a breeze for the sharply honed Brown.

But let’s not leave out Yahoo. We have but one choice here (and someone who has reportedly been on Facebook’s list too): Hilary Schneider, its EVP, Global Partner Solutions. In other words, the revenue person.

The former Knight-Ridder exec (pictured here) is well liked at Yahoo and is also steeped in the world of media, which is important to Facebook. While probably a keeper for Microsoft, it might not be her first choice to stay after a forced merger.

There are a lot of other choices–in fact, I am completely leaving out the many media execs who might be good, as well as some longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who would get along a lot better with Zuckerberg.

Off the top of my head: former AOL head Jon Miller; former Yahoo execs Ellen Siminoff and Jeff Mallett; CBS dynamo Quincy Smith; former When and Ofoto entrepreneur James Joaquin; Fox Interactive Media’s Peter Levinsohn; and many more.

But why not go for the man who was Zuckerberg before Zuckerberg was cool. Yes, the shiniest of Golden Geeks himself, Marc Andreessen (pictured here on the iconic Time magazine cover in 1996).

I could go on and on about the similarities I find between the two, if you compared today’s Zuckerberg with the Netscape founder in the mid-1990s.

From their arrogant innocence to their visionary qualities to their enfant-terrible charm, it is almost as if they were separated at birth.

But now Andreessen is all grown up and much, much matured from when I covered him. He has become all calm and sage and he even does a very decent blog.

Plus, he has also started and run a number of start-ups after Netscape, giving him deeper managerial experience over the last dozen years.

And, best of all, Andreessen knows the pressure of being the best-thing-since-sliced-bread in the tech sector, and its inevitable downside too.

Overall, a real mentor and partner for Zuckerberg, making a perfect pair of Golden Geeks.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Yes, I meant it when I said that too much of the Facebook environment these days was like being present at a loud Wiggles concert in the kid mosh pit–and I have been there, so believe me.

Except, in the case of the hot social network, the Wiggles never ever stop wiggling. Or SuperPoking. Or Cartoonifying. Or inundating me with digital picture gifts of “giraffe love” (I could not make this up, you realize, as you can see here).

Yesterday, I did a long post on the fact that most Facebook apps, also called widgets, are startlingly juvenile and mostly banal.

My gripe was the lack of truly useful apps from either Facebook or the legions of third-party developers that it allowed onto its fast-growing platform to offer all sorts of services in the form of apps.

As I said yesterday, millions upon millions of people are downloading and using these apps, riding on the back of Facebook’s own hypergrowth to 45 million active monthly users.

Active maybe, but doing what, I wondered? A whole lot of nothing, which is the problem.

Read more »