So Yahoo's problem was they were trying to get big, and one way was to call themselves a media company (earn ad dollars, avoid MS radar). However, by doing thi

So Yahoo's problem was they were trying to get big, and one way was to call themselves a media company (earn ad dollars, avoid MS radar). However, by doing this, they stopped acting like a technology company, and lost their focus on technology and solutions, but rather chasing the next banner ad buyer. In contrast, Google was concerned about perfecting its search product, and therefore was focusing on what would help in that regard (hackers), which helped sustain its hacker culture.