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It's more like Yahoo! is overpaying for app development teams. They have to, as they are way behind in mobile and nobody good wants to work there.
by rdouble 14y ago
It's more like Yahoo! is overpaying for app development teams. They have to, as they are way behind in mobile and nobody good wants to work there.
- samstave 14y agoEXACTLY! I've been saying this for the last three years here on Hn: Yahoo is stupid to not be aggressively and heavily spending their massive cash reserves to buy back into an innovative place here in the valley. Mayer is no dope! She knows that being the convoluted portal that Yahoo is, is a death sentence. They need to act quick and fast and often. Buying up a very young tech upstart is a good step toward splicing in some new, nimble DNA - which Yahoo needs desperately. $30MM is also a marketing number! Remember when everyone's exit plan was Google or Facebook? Well, add Yahoo to the list for exit acquire players.
- rdouble 14y agoI remember when selling to Yahoo! was the exit plan.
- Lewisham 14y agoExactly. Yahoo tried the "buy our way into being innovative" when they went on their Web 2.0 spending spree, picking up Delicious, Flickr and Upcoming. They systematically choked each one to death because the corporate structure/culture didn't support buying in companies that way (see EA for the same thing in games). Marissa Mayer may be able to stave that off this time around and Yahoo may be able to buy their way into mobile, but when mobile is so hit-driven and short-term, it seems unwise to start spending money on little things like silly TL;DR apps (that you're going to shut down, anyway). If the deal is about pushing into mobile, Yahoo needs to secure culture changers, not apps. They need to buy the Duartes and Rubensteins and Brichters, and give them full autonomy to run the mobile ship however they please. That's a longer term plan, but it pays off in actual tangible results. $100 says we never hear anything about Summly's technology again, and the kid leaves as soon as his stock vests.
- samstave 14y agoYes, I am familiar with Yahoo's history as well - and clearly their leadership in the past was simply not qualified to buy their way to innovation - as they didn't come from an innovated place. Yahoo is a web 1.0 company, pre-crash and just didn't have it in their DNA to innovate out - like you said, they choked those previous acquisitions to death. That doesn't mean that the strategy of acquiring their way back to a good position is bad - it was that the leaders previously attempting to do so just didn't have it in them. I say that Mayer is their last hope.
- kyllo 14y agoSo does pg. Perhaps this kid is the next pg?
- MaysonL 14y agoAnd who knows: what would have happened if Y! had promoted pg a few times, eventually to CEO. Or what will happen if this kid helps turn Y! into a YC?
- OGinparadise 14y agoThey have to, as they are way behind in mobile and nobody good wants to work there. Sumly is three people and they paid about $30 million for it. Start throwing million dollar /year offers and many "good" programmers will want to work there. This stinks, IMO.
- rdouble 14y agoHaving to pay $10 million per person is how far behind Yahoo! is at the moment.
- mcintyre1994 14y agoI'd agree they're overpaying because they're behind, but let's not simplify this too much. They did not pay $30m to 3 people in exchange for them 3 people working with them.
- raylu 14y agoYahoo! paid $30 mil and, in exchange, got 3 people working for them. Not all the money made its way into those people's hands, but from Y!'s perspective I think the summary is fair.
- rdouble 14y agoClearly, but that seemed to be the accepted HN Hater narrative about this topic so I went with it...
- macspoofing 14y agoBut $30M for two developers?