I think the assumption is, rightly or wrongly, that the 17 year old kid is unlikely to have done anything the rest of us couldn't have done. Whereas if he were

I think the assumption is, rightly or wrongly, that the 17 year old kid is unlikely to have done anything the rest of us couldn't have done. Whereas if he were an older more experienced developer, he would get the benefit of the doubt that maybe he had special something on offer that was worth Yahoo buying. At least, that's what's going through my head. EDIT: If the assumption that the Summly codebase doesn't actually contain anything worth $30 million is true, then this purchase is all about branding. It's about fooling Wall Street into thinking Yahoo is revitalized and focused on new technology and talent. When IMHO, in reality, any sane investor should see this purchase as evidence that Yahoo is acting irrationally and I'd pull every dollar I had out of it.