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Paul Graham's What happened to Yahoo[0] is probably just as relevent now as when he wrote it in 2010. > One of the weirdest things about Yahoo when I went to w
by vonklaus 11y ago
Paul Graham's What happened to Yahoo[0] is probably just as relevent now as when he wrote it in 2010.
> One of the weirdest things about Yahoo when I went to work there was the way they insisted on calling themselves a "media company.
That was a bad decision then, but at the time content and media were newer on the internet and had value. They don't anymore. Yahoo finance and fantasy sports are nice things to provide, but they aren't a google killer for sure.
Yahoo's core business is media not technology. If the NYT and Wall Street Journal are any indication, media is a bad business to be in.
[0]http://www.paulgraham.com/yahoo.html http://www.paulgraham.com/yahoo.html
- strictnein 11y agoWish I could find the article I read this in (googling around has failed me), but I believe around 2010 they also started bringing in execs and business people from Hollywood/MSM and there was a big clash of cultures.
- T-A 11y agoThe first Hollywood connection surfaced by my quick googling is the Semel arc, 2001-2007: http://www.cnet.com/news/yahoos-ceo-reaches-out-to-hollywood/ http://www.cnet.com/news/yahoos-ceo-reaches-out-to-hollywood... http://www.cnet.com/news/google-vs-yahoo-clash-of-cultures-1/ http://www.cnet.com/news/google-vs-yahoo-clash-of-cultures-1... http://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/ http://www.wired.com/2007/02/yahoo-3/ http://metue.com/06-18-2007/yahoo-ceo/ http://metue.com/06-18-2007/yahoo-ceo/ The Wired article looks particularly painful. If memory serves, Yahoo first declined to buy proto-Google for one million. Then again in 2002 for 5 billion.
- jleader 11y agoPretty much everyone with a million dollars laying around declined to spend it on acquiring Google back then, it's not like Yahoo was the only company they approached.
- discardorama 11y agoTerry Semel himself was from Hollywood, and he took over in 2001.
- Quinner 11y agoExcept the NYT has surprisingly turned things around, considering five years ago they were a dinosaur on it's way out, much as Yahoo was and is. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/business/media/new-york-times-co-reports-9-million-profit-in-3rd-quarter.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/business/media/new-york-ti...
- untog 11y agoTrue, though I think the most accurate statement is that NYT is performing admirably in a horrible, horrible industry.