4 ms·

Here's a different four point plan for Yahoo! 1. Cut costs to the bone. Ruthlessly reduce headcount, non-core services, and the executive roster. Go until Wa

by jbyers 18y ago

Here's a different four point plan for Yahoo! 1. Cut costs to the bone. Ruthlessly reduce headcount, non-core services, and the executive roster. Go until Wall Street thinks you're insane, then cut a bit more for good measure. I'm talking 30% layoffs in one shot, with strong incentives for the remaining top talent to stick around. Forget about playing to the interests of Silicon Valley startups and idealogues. Sell or shutter the acquisitions that don't have a path to material revenue contribution. Fire the consultants. Put a small team of passionate executives in the driver's seat, top up their options, and fire the rest. Make it clear that bureaucracy, infighting, and complacency are over. 2. Replace Jerry Yang with a leader who is aggressive, fearless, and given a long leash by the board to steer Yahoo! to a new corporate identity. I actually think Jerry is a good leader, I just believe he's in an impossible situation and needs to be freed from Yahoo! for his and the company's benefit. Ideally promote from within someone who has the passion and vision to lead, maybe paired with an outsider who the axe-man. 3. Explore any deal that boosts monetization of Yahoo's massive traffic. Swallow pride, and get solidly in the black. The levers are well within reach, the Yahoo! brand is still a tremendous force on the Internet, and the company sits atop a formidable set of services. Sidle up to your enemies if they'll help you achieve profitability. 4. Rediscover Yahoo's soul. While it would be nice to do this ahead of the unpleasant cuts described above, I don't think it's possible. This will be possible when the company is unencumbered by historical baggage, unburdened by a tremendously depressed stock price, and full of people excited to figure out together what the next chapter is for the company. The new soul of Yahoo! will not be found in a consultant's report, executive talking points, a set of loosely-joined web 2.0 startups. Disclaimer: I am a Yahoo! shareholder.

jdavid 18y ago
Way to be someone that contributes to the 80s like recession, in a bullish economy these tactics will work, but in a down economy firing people will not boost the stock price. It will not improve Yahoo's brand, and it will hardly help them. You do not want to fire people in a bear economy unless you have to. Look at the 80s and stock prices correlated with layoffs and you will see that it hardly effects the stock price. I firmly disagree with your position, and I don't want Yahoo to fire away who it is, to create some short term value that can easily be bought by some company that wants to spam Yahoo! traffic. That is not a good fit, and you are not going to get Jerry Yang to do it, nor the board. Yahoo provides critical leadership in the internet game, and having them absorbed by another internet company like MS or Google is not good for the ecosystem. IBM does not have a strong internet play, and since they restructured in the 90s, they know how to do it. They also know that you generally need to radically shift a companies culture and IBM is involved in building community. IBM would be a GREAT partner to lead Yahoo through this, and maybe a great buyer of Yahoo Stock.

by jbyers 18y ago

jdavid 18y ago

Way to be someone that contributes to the 80s like recession, in a bullish economy these tactics will work, but in a down economy firing people will not boost the stock price. It will not improve Yahoo's brand, and it will hardly help them. You do not want to fire people in a bear economy unless you have to. Look at the 80s and stock prices correlated with layoffs and you will see that it hardly effects the stock price. I firmly disagree with your position, and I don't want Yahoo to fire away who it is, to create some short term value that can easily be bought by some company that wants to spam Yahoo! traffic. That is not a good fit, and you are not going to get Jerry Yang to do it, nor the board. Yahoo provides critical leadership in the internet game, and having them absorbed by another internet company like MS or Google is not good for the ecosystem. IBM does not have a strong internet play, and since they restructured in the 90s, they know how to do it. They also know that you generally need to radically shift a companies culture and IBM is involved in building community. IBM would be a GREAT partner to lead Yahoo through this, and maybe a great buyer of Yahoo Stock.