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What the hell has Marissa Mayer been paid for? Everything about this smells like Yahoo! is being run by idiot MBAs with some spreadsheets somewhere totally mis

What the hell has Marissa Mayer been paid for? Everything about this smells like Yahoo! is being run by idiot MBAs with some spreadsheets somewhere totally misunderstanding that technology can empower people to do fantastic things including those working within Yahoo! - instead it's been hamstrung by each property not being held accountable to it's competitors effectively. I would have started competitors (startups) internally for all of Yahoo!'s key products (buy Y.com and test them under that) and told the current product owners if their products were not better faster than these startups could build them they'd be replaced. The decision to sell search because they were not able to match the investment Google and Microsoft were putting in is another example; if you can't beat someone financially you need to be better than them. To have just given up based on "only" having a few billion to invest is absurd.

coldtea 10y ago
>I would have started competitors (startups) internally for all of Yahoo!'s key products (buy Y.com and test them under that) and told the current product owners if their products were not better faster than these startups could build them they'd be replaced. If only those in charge of Yahoo and other failing companies knew of such a cunning strategy... /s
- andy_ppp 10y ago
  You make it sound as if: a) startups aren't better at building websites than big businesses b) Yahoo! management came up with something better...
  - coldtea 10y ago
    >a) startups aren't better at building websites than big businesses Who said they are? That's a huge "citation needed". >b) Yahoo! management came up with something better... They did come up with $5 billion dollars (plus other assets of huge value not included in the buy) -- as opposed to a hypothetical scenario which could have just as easily exhausted their resources, alienated their employees, and killed their current value for not much to show for.
- basch 10y ago
  They could have spun up 3+ internal teams making competing Yahoo Fantasy products, at let the best team win. They should have been making harder plays at instagram/smugmug with flickr. Y!Messenger was left to flounder while FB adds new features every week. She chose to try and become a content/adtech company without first rate tech, features or user interfaces.
nikdaheratik 10y ago
I don't think you can put this all on Mayer. It's basically a tug of war between two different groups of key investors, with the concerns about the IRS also playing a role. One group thought that Y! had a shot at a viable business. The other group wanted out, but didn't want to sell until they got their cut from the Alibaba/Y!JP investments (which also propped up the stock price for the whole thing). Mayer was hired by the first group to try and turn the tide. The second group agreed in the hope that it would also bring the stock price up a bit and make the non-Alibaba part of the company more valuable. The IRS finally ruled that Yahoo can't just divest Alibaba &co. without paying a huge bill, and Mayer hasn't been able to do anything about the rest of the company. Which means the second group of investors is basically winning out and spinning off all the assets so they can close out their price at the value of the Alibaba stake and make their profit. It's difficult to say that Mayer is 100% responsible since a good chunk of the board/investors didn't care or were actively against her from day one. Also, she didn't have all the tools that a turnaround CEO has at other companies because she had to protect the share price around the value of the Alibaba investments or that second group would simply fire her. It was always a longshot IMO.
- themartorana 10y ago
  TIL.
- cstejerean 10y ago
  She lost support of the investors when it became clear that the turnaround plan was a complete failure. Initially she was given a lot of latitude to make whatever moves she deemed necessary including blowing a lot of money on failed acquisitions and key hires that didn't work out. Now maybe Yahoo was beyond saving, and it was going to fail anyway, but Mayer's execution didn't seem to help it at all. This reminds me of JC Penney, where investors also brought in an exec from abother successful company in the hope that they could replicate that success. In that case it was Ron Johnson from Apple, who tried to replicate Apple's retail strategy at JC Penney with devastating results, and certainly not for lack of being given the latitude to implement whatever changes he asked for. The situation at Yahoo is pretty similar. I wouldn't blame the board and investors for finally trying to cut their losses.
tootie 10y ago
I'm guessing Mayer had a mandate to take a few moon shots to revive the brand knowing they were likely to fail, but at least had a chance of going viral. The upside was big, but the downside wasn't so bad because they were already so deep in the doldrums. I doubt they were worth much more than $5B when she joined. The ship had sailed a while ago.
fma 10y ago
She got paid to spend Jerry Yang's money. Sold Alibaba's shares at $13 per share for $7billion when it's worth 6x that. Then turns around and spends it on junk like Tumblr. Who uses that nowadays? Jerry Yang invests $1billion in Alibaba years ago, a global powerhouse, and she spends $1 billion for Tumblr? A stagnant platform... She could have taken the $1 billion and invest in a few hundred up and coming startups. At least it will do some good for Silicone Valley
matt4077 10y ago
Mayer is a Stanford CS grad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer#Early_life_and_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer#Early_life_and_e...
basch 10y ago
I had the same thing to say (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11916156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11916156), it just amazes me they didnt attempt to netflix themselves (replace dvd mail with streaming.) They had literal piles of money from good investments, and a HUGE userbase of people who still use their product out of habit. They almost couldnt have been in a more perfect place to reinvent themselves, and dominate multiple markets.

coldtea 10y ago

>I would have started competitors (startups) internally for all of Yahoo!'s key products (buy Y.com and test them under that) and told the current product owners if their products were not better faster than these startups could build them they'd be replaced. If only those in charge of Yahoo and other failing companies knew of such a cunning strategy... /s

andy_ppp 10y ago
You make it sound as if: a) startups aren't better at building websites than big businesses b) Yahoo! management came up with something better...
- coldtea 10y ago
  >a) startups aren't better at building websites than big businesses Who said they are? That's a huge "citation needed". >b) Yahoo! management came up with something better... They did come up with $5 billion dollars (plus other assets of huge value not included in the buy) -- as opposed to a hypothetical scenario which could have just as easily exhausted their resources, alienated their employees, and killed their current value for not much to show for.
basch 10y ago
They could have spun up 3+ internal teams making competing Yahoo Fantasy products, at let the best team win. They should have been making harder plays at instagram/smugmug with flickr. Y!Messenger was left to flounder while FB adds new features every week. She chose to try and become a content/adtech company without first rate tech, features or user interfaces.

nikdaheratik 10y ago

I don't think you can put this all on Mayer. It's basically a tug of war between two different groups of key investors, with the concerns about the IRS also playing a role. One group thought that Y! had a shot at a viable business. The other group wanted out, but didn't want to sell until they got their cut from the Alibaba/Y!JP investments (which also propped up the stock price for the whole thing). Mayer was hired by the first group to try and turn the tide. The second group agreed in the hope that it would also bring the stock price up a bit and make the non-Alibaba part of the company more valuable. The IRS finally ruled that Yahoo can't just divest Alibaba &co. without paying a huge bill, and Mayer hasn't been able to do anything about the rest of the company. Which means the second group of investors is basically winning out and spinning off all the assets so they can close out their price at the value of the Alibaba stake and make their profit. It's difficult to say that Mayer is 100% responsible since a good chunk of the board/investors didn't care or were actively against her from day one. Also, she didn't have all the tools that a turnaround CEO has at other companies because she had to protect the share price around the value of the Alibaba investments or that second group would simply fire her. It was always a longshot IMO.

themartorana 10y ago
TIL.
cstejerean 10y ago
She lost support of the investors when it became clear that the turnaround plan was a complete failure. Initially she was given a lot of latitude to make whatever moves she deemed necessary including blowing a lot of money on failed acquisitions and key hires that didn't work out. Now maybe Yahoo was beyond saving, and it was going to fail anyway, but Mayer's execution didn't seem to help it at all. This reminds me of JC Penney, where investors also brought in an exec from abother successful company in the hope that they could replicate that success. In that case it was Ron Johnson from Apple, who tried to replicate Apple's retail strategy at JC Penney with devastating results, and certainly not for lack of being given the latitude to implement whatever changes he asked for. The situation at Yahoo is pretty similar. I wouldn't blame the board and investors for finally trying to cut their losses.

tootie 10y ago

I'm guessing Mayer had a mandate to take a few moon shots to revive the brand knowing they were likely to fail, but at least had a chance of going viral. The upside was big, but the downside wasn't so bad because they were already so deep in the doldrums. I doubt they were worth much more than $5B when she joined. The ship had sailed a while ago.

fma 10y ago

She got paid to spend Jerry Yang's money. Sold Alibaba's shares at $13 per share for $7billion when it's worth 6x that. Then turns around and spends it on junk like Tumblr. Who uses that nowadays? Jerry Yang invests $1billion in Alibaba years ago, a global powerhouse, and she spends $1 billion for Tumblr? A stagnant platform... She could have taken the $1 billion and invest in a few hundred up and coming startups. At least it will do some good for Silicone Valley

matt4077 10y ago

Mayer is a Stanford CS grad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer#Early_life_and_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Mayer#Early_life_and_e...

basch 10y ago

I had the same thing to say (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11916156 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11916156), it just amazes me they didnt attempt to netflix themselves (replace dvd mail with streaming.) They had literal piles of money from good investments, and a HUGE userbase of people who still use their product out of habit. They almost couldnt have been in a more perfect place to reinvent themselves, and dominate multiple markets.