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Another mis-analysis of Yahoo. The situation is and had been very clear- Yahoo has never accepted what it is: A conglomeration of useful web services and utilit

Another mis-analysis of Yahoo. The situation is and had been very clear- Yahoo has never accepted what it is: A conglomeration of useful web services and utilities. Not sexy, but used by millions and potentially very profitable with properly tiered service levels. Instead it has always called itself a "media company" and chased after the success of its competitors. When I worked there a decade ago it wanted to be Google. Now it wants to be Facebook, YouTube or god knows what. This, combined with the inexperience, ego and vanity of Mayer assured Yahoo would continue its slide to irrelevance. Very sad.

supster 11y ago
Would you agree though that Yahoo has not kept up with users moving their attention to smartphones, and there will be a corresponding loss in users and profit in the long run? If so, I believe Mayer was trying to correct this through her efforts.
- orionblastar 11y ago
  Moving to mobile devices is always hard and expensive. Yahoo has to compete with other mobile apps and companies. Yahoo didn't convince mobile users to use their apps instead of competitor's apps. There was no advantage to the mobile users to watch videos on Yahoo instead of Youtube for example. There was no advantage to use Yahoo Mail instead of Gmail. There was no advantage to use Yahoo News instead of Google News. Yahoo should have moved to mobile apps years ago, when the market was still young and growing. It has become too late as Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc already have a lock in with mobile apps. All Yahoo can do now is try and catch up with the others. What they need to do is innovate new features no other app has instead of trying to catch up. Find some new niche market and make an app for that.
- russellbeattie 11y ago
  Amazingly, Yahoo Stocks, Weather and Mail are in the top 25 apps by usage. But this isn't because of any particularly impressive strategic thinking on Y's part. Their big efforts like Katie Couric and Community flopped like crazy and their "MaVeNS" strategy (if you want to call it that) is pure stupidity: Mobile, Native, Video and Social? Mobile isn't a product, and even just as a general focus, Google seems to be making a bundle from the PC Web still, so why would Yahoo not continue to put massive effort into its most well known service? Native advertising is... mobile advertising, so OK. Video as a category is owned by YouTube, Netflix and various big media companies like HBO, so focusing on that is as futile as focusing on Social which is owned by Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. In summery, there's no strategy. Mobile is obvious, advertising is how Y makes money so that's a no brainer, and the rest is suicide. Mayer's thinking is simplistic, shortsighted and driven by pure vanity. Nothing she's doing now or is willing to do can fix Yahoo.
  - nerfhammer 11y ago
    > Mobile isn't a product, and even just as a general focus, Google seems to be making a bundle from the PC Web still, so why would Yahoo not continue to put massive effort into its most well known service? Because mobile is growing faster.
toast0 11y ago
> Another mis-analysis of Yahoo. The situation is and had been very clear- Yahoo has never accepted what it is: A conglomeration of useful web services and utilities. Not sexy, but used by millions and potentially very profitable with properly tiered service levels. I don't know that they never accepted; when I did my new hire orientation in 2004, the thing that stuck with me, other than not to ride scooters indoors, was that Y! intended to be in the top 3 in every vertical on the internet, either directly or via cobranding, or 'everything you want to do on the internet, Yahoo can help you do that'. That was behind the 'life engine' brand campaign as well. This strategy was derided in the infamous peanut butter manifesto, but it seemed reasonable to me; leveraging the core company to provide login services, ad services, etc, the team I was on was able to compete well against other companies in our space, with a much smaller team, for a long time.
cdelsolar 11y ago
The vanity of Mayer? FFS she's been trying to save Yahoo.
- phamilton 11y ago
  I think "vanity of Mayer" could be better stated as perhaps "commitment to a predetermined path". She's trying to make Yahoo like Google. I don't think it's vanity so much as a "this is what you hired me to do". If the board wanted Yahoo to be a media company like AOL they would have hired someone else. By hiring MM they doubled down on becoming a big player in tech. Now, years later, the board might be changing their mind. That's generally a problem after doubling down.

supster 11y ago

Would you agree though that Yahoo has not kept up with users moving their attention to smartphones, and there will be a corresponding loss in users and profit in the long run? If so, I believe Mayer was trying to correct this through her efforts.

orionblastar 11y ago
Moving to mobile devices is always hard and expensive. Yahoo has to compete with other mobile apps and companies. Yahoo didn't convince mobile users to use their apps instead of competitor's apps. There was no advantage to the mobile users to watch videos on Yahoo instead of Youtube for example. There was no advantage to use Yahoo Mail instead of Gmail. There was no advantage to use Yahoo News instead of Google News. Yahoo should have moved to mobile apps years ago, when the market was still young and growing. It has become too late as Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc already have a lock in with mobile apps. All Yahoo can do now is try and catch up with the others. What they need to do is innovate new features no other app has instead of trying to catch up. Find some new niche market and make an app for that.
russellbeattie 11y ago
Amazingly, Yahoo Stocks, Weather and Mail are in the top 25 apps by usage. But this isn't because of any particularly impressive strategic thinking on Y's part. Their big efforts like Katie Couric and Community flopped like crazy and their "MaVeNS" strategy (if you want to call it that) is pure stupidity: Mobile, Native, Video and Social? Mobile isn't a product, and even just as a general focus, Google seems to be making a bundle from the PC Web still, so why would Yahoo not continue to put massive effort into its most well known service? Native advertising is... mobile advertising, so OK. Video as a category is owned by YouTube, Netflix and various big media companies like HBO, so focusing on that is as futile as focusing on Social which is owned by Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. In summery, there's no strategy. Mobile is obvious, advertising is how Y makes money so that's a no brainer, and the rest is suicide. Mayer's thinking is simplistic, shortsighted and driven by pure vanity. Nothing she's doing now or is willing to do can fix Yahoo.
- nerfhammer 11y ago
  > Mobile isn't a product, and even just as a general focus, Google seems to be making a bundle from the PC Web still, so why would Yahoo not continue to put massive effort into its most well known service? Because mobile is growing faster.

toast0 11y ago

> Another mis-analysis of Yahoo. The situation is and had been very clear- Yahoo has never accepted what it is: A conglomeration of useful web services and utilities. Not sexy, but used by millions and potentially very profitable with properly tiered service levels. I don't know that they never accepted; when I did my new hire orientation in 2004, the thing that stuck with me, other than not to ride scooters indoors, was that Y! intended to be in the top 3 in every vertical on the internet, either directly or via cobranding, or 'everything you want to do on the internet, Yahoo can help you do that'. That was behind the 'life engine' brand campaign as well. This strategy was derided in the infamous peanut butter manifesto, but it seemed reasonable to me; leveraging the core company to provide login services, ad services, etc, the team I was on was able to compete well against other companies in our space, with a much smaller team, for a long time.

cdelsolar 11y ago

The vanity of Mayer? FFS she's been trying to save Yahoo.

phamilton 11y ago
I think "vanity of Mayer" could be better stated as perhaps "commitment to a predetermined path". She's trying to make Yahoo like Google. I don't think it's vanity so much as a "this is what you hired me to do". If the board wanted Yahoo to be a media company like AOL they would have hired someone else. By hiring MM they doubled down on becoming a big player in tech. Now, years later, the board might be changing their mind. That's generally a problem after doubling down.