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Man, they are on some buying binge. Unfortunately for them, I don't think it's possible to buy innovation or relevance. Those things have to come from within an

by PLenz 13y ago

Man, they are on some buying binge. Unfortunately for them, I don't think it's possible to buy innovation or relevance. Those things have to come from within and permeate the entire culture of the firm - and Yahoo just doesn't have it right now.

tannerc 13y ago
It's certainly possible to buy both innovation and relevance. Innovation is possible by acquiring already-innovative companies and letting them flourish as if you hadn't bought them, then stick your name on the work they produce. Relevance is even easier, just throw $1.1 B and you're going to be the thing that's relevant. At least for a little while. Is it ideal? Can it scale? Will it last? No, but it gets the job done.
- PLenz 13y ago
  If it doesn't scale that it was a waste of money.
blocke 13y ago
Companies like Cisco seem built around buying all of their innovation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Cisco_Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Cisco_S... They seem to be doing well. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/industries/209/index.html http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/indus...
- josh2600 13y ago
  The culture of Cisco M&A is unlike anything seen in Silicon Valley. Cisco actively encourages senior engineering employees to leave the company, start new ventures and return as leaders in the M&A process. It's not fair to compare Yahoo to Cisco when Cisco invests tremendous amounts of effort, time and money into these ventures to grow and nurture them (recent example: Meraki) until they can be reabsorbed into the Mothership. Yahoo on the other hand is buying a bunch of companies that it knows only by reputation. Yahoo might be successful, but not for the same reasons that Cisco is successful. It's just a very different culture.
  - PLenz 13y ago
    Exactly - some companies can pull off this kind of acquisition. It's entirely a corporate culture thing.

by PLenz 13y ago

tannerc 13y ago

It's certainly possible to buy both innovation and relevance. Innovation is possible by acquiring already-innovative companies and letting them flourish as if you hadn't bought them, then stick your name on the work they produce. Relevance is even easier, just throw $1.1 B and you're going to be the thing that's relevant. At least for a little while. Is it ideal? Can it scale? Will it last? No, but it gets the job done.

PLenz 13y ago
If it doesn't scale that it was a waste of money.

blocke 13y ago

Companies like Cisco seem built around buying all of their innovation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Cisco_Systems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acquisitions_by_Cisco_S... They seem to be doing well. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/industries/209/index.html http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/indus...

josh2600 13y ago
The culture of Cisco M&A is unlike anything seen in Silicon Valley. Cisco actively encourages senior engineering employees to leave the company, start new ventures and return as leaders in the M&A process. It's not fair to compare Yahoo to Cisco when Cisco invests tremendous amounts of effort, time and money into these ventures to grow and nurture them (recent example: Meraki) until they can be reabsorbed into the Mothership. Yahoo on the other hand is buying a bunch of companies that it knows only by reputation. Yahoo might be successful, but not for the same reasons that Cisco is successful. It's just a very different culture.
- PLenz 13y ago
  Exactly - some companies can pull off this kind of acquisition. It's entirely a corporate culture thing.