Apr 10, 2012 at 1:42pm ET by Matt McGee

Following last week's layoffs of about 2,000 employees, new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson announced today an overhaul of the company's structure -- and, despite concerns about the future of Yahoo search, it remains alive. At least in the memo that Thompson sent to Yahoo employees this morning. Yahoo's new corporate structure will take effect on May 1st and have three primary divisions: Consumer - this will have three units: Media, Connections and Commerce Regions - this is the division that serves Yahoo advertisers and is "accountable for all Yahoo revenue" Technology - the infrastructure [...]

Yahoo In A Fight For Its Life

Apr 6, 2012 at 10:17am ET by Greg Sterling

According to Reuters on Tuesday next week the already embattled new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson will lay out his vision for the company. The pressure will be on to deliver a coherent and convincing plan -- emphasis on convincing. Following the announcement of 2,000 layoffs earlier this week Thompson sought to reassure Yahoo employees in a company memo. A streamlined organizational structure will better enable Yahoo to compete in the future, he reportedly said. That new structure will apparently not include Yahoo Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, who has resigned. His organization took a d [...]

Yahoo Confirms 2,000 Employees Getting the Axe

Apr 4, 2012 at 10:01am ET by Greg Sterling

After several days of rumors, first reported by AllThingsD, Yahoo confirmed this morning that it's restructuring and laying off 2,000 employees: Today, the company will begin the process of informing employees about these changes. As part of that effort, approximately 2,000 people will be notified of job elimination or phased transition. Yahoo! expects to realize approximately $375 million of annualized savings upon completion of all employee transitions. The company currently expects to recognize the majority of an estimated $125 to $145 million pretax cash charge relating to employee sev [...]

Will Pending Layoffs Put Final Nail In Yahoo Search?

Mar 30, 2012 at 3:38pm ET by Matt McGee

Whatever is left of Yahoo Search -- and, frankly, that's unclear at this point -- might be gone completely within the next couple of weeks. At AllThingsD today, Kara Swisher is reporting that Yahoo is planning substantial layoffs as early as next week, with a company restructuring to be revealed the week after that. Swisher, who's been correct on things like this in the past, mentions "a half-dozen sources" in reporting on Yahoo's impending plans. Of note for Search Engine Land readers is the discussion of what might happen to Yahoo Search. AllThingsD says that Yahoo has been in talks wi [...]

Yahoo’s Co-founder Jerry Yang Resigns

Jan 17, 2012 at 5:17pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Yahoo announced its co-founder Jerry Yang has formally resigned after 17 years on the job. Yang co-founded the company in March 1995, and has been on the Board of Directors since. 17 years later, he has officially stepped down from its Board of Directors and all other positions with the company. And he has done so effective immediately. In addition, he stepped down from the Boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and Alibaba Group Holding Limited. This news comes only a couple weeks after Yahoo announced their new CEO Scott Thompson. "I am grateful for the warm welcome and support Jerry p [...]

It’s Official: PayPal President Scott Thompson The New Yahoo CEO

Jan 4, 2012 at 8:43am ET by Greg Sterling

AllThingsD reported late yesterday that PayPal president Scott Thompson would likely be named CEO of Yahoo. It's now official; Yahoo just put out its formal press release announcing Thompson's appointment. In appointing Thompson, Yahoo is choosing a leader with a deeper technology and product background than prior CEO Carol Bartz who was abruptly terminated last September. In the interim Yahoo CFO Tim Morse has been serving as CEO. Not going to sell itself now There had been an expectation that Yahoo was going to sell itself or a significant minority stake to a private equity buyer or ano [...]

Yahoo’s Bay Bridge Billboard Removed After 12-Year Legacy

Dec 22, 2011 at 9:16am ET by Barry Schwartz

Iconic Yahoo billboard taken down via the Associated Press reports that Yahoo's "iconic" billboard has been taken down after 12 years of standing tall and proud on the highway as you approached the Bay Bridge. The billboard space is managed by Clear Channel and currently is being offered at an extremely low rate of $65,000 per month. Yahoo, who has not been seeing that much growth over the recent years, said they are looking for "new and innovative ways" to advertise and market themselves. Removing the classic billboard is just one more symbolic nail in the coffin for Yahoo. For more [...]

Yahoo Product Runway: Livestand And IntoNow

Nov 2, 2011 at 3:46pm ET by Greg Sterling

Yahoo held its second now annual "Product Runway" event, mc'd by product chief Blake Irving. Irving was assisted by some younger executives from companies that Yahoo had acquired in the recent past. There were four announcements, lead by the formal unveiling of Livestand, Yahoo's long-promised tablet news reader application. It competes with Flipboard, CNN's Zite, AOL Editions, Taptu, Pulse and others. Here is a quick summary of the four announcements: Livestand: Described as a "personalized living magazine," it's a mix of Yahoo's own content and third party content. There will b [...]

Yahoo Now A Pawn In Google-Microsoft Proxy War As Both Seek Ownership Stake: Report

Oct 24, 2011 at 8:29am ET by Greg Sterling

According to stories that ran on Friday and Sunday in the Wall Street Journal, both Microsoft and Google are potentially going to bid for Yahoo. Various unnamed sources and "people speaking on condition of anonymity" told the WSJ that Microsoft is planning to act as source of financing for others in exchange for preferred stock and some "influence" over Yahoo's future: Microsoft Corp. may help to bankroll a potential joint bid for Yahoo by extending loans to its deal partners and buying preferred stock in Yahoo . . . The software giant has been in discussions about a potential joint proposal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo: Business Issues

As Yahoo Struggles Can It “Bring Sexy Back”?

Oct 19, 2011 at 4:27pm ET by Greg Sterling

Yesterday Yahoo released Q3 revenues. While they generally met expectations, and operating income came in at the "high end" of Yahoo's guidance, overall revenues and profit declined: Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs ("revenue ex-TAC") was $1,072 million for the third quarter of 2011, a 5 percent decrease from the third quarter of 2010. Income from operations decreased 6 percent to $177 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared to $189 million in the third quarter of 2010. The year over year decreases were primarily due to the revenue share related to the Search Agreement wi [...]

As Buyers Circle Yahoo, Will It Be Carved Up?

Oct 5, 2011 at 10:40am ET by Greg Sterling

Now that it's for sale, there are several reports indicating multiple buyers are interested in some or all of Yahoo. Among the names mentioned are Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, Yahoo search partner and former suitor Microsoft, News Corp. and Jack Ma of China's Alibaba, in which Yahoo owns a multi-billion dollar stake. Reuters is reporting that Yahoo has hired the infamous Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co to help potential buyers through the due diligence process, which could take "months" according to the report. The New York Times tries to value the various pieces of Yaho [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: General

Dear Bing & Yahoo: Pushing Deck Chairs Around Isn’t A Good Plan

Sep 23, 2011 at 2:30pm ET by Danny Sullivan

I swear, it's like watching the Titanic having run into that iceberg, as Bing and Yahoo try to figure out what to do with their sinking ships of search. Except that the Titanic was big, and Bing and Yahoo are like small -- and they haven't run into an iceberg. They're being run over by the search supercarrier SS Google. "Did we just bump something," yells Capt. Larry Page to his Googler crew. "No, full steam ahead!" yells back first mate Eric Schmidt. "There were some senators in the water, but I think I've handled them." As for the wreckage of the SS Bing and SS Yahoo that Google also plow [...]

Yahoo Rolls Out New SERP, Will People Notice?

Sep 16, 2011 at 8:29am ET by Greg Sterling

In the wake of the firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and amid the growing speculation surrounding a possible sale of the company, work continues for the Yahoo rank and file. (The employees must have a kind of PTSD.) But in the spirit of "life goes on," Yahoo search engineers announced that the company is introducing improved SERPs. The offer a somewhat cleaner design, with tabs showing related content and navigational filters that allow sorting by date and related searches. All the changes discussed in the Yahoo Blog post aren't live for me but they appear to be generally incremental o [...]

With Carol Bartz Out As CEO, Yahoo Needs To Find Its Own “Steve Jobs”

Sep 7, 2011 at 10:15am ET by Greg Sterling

The not-so-shocking news came yesterday afternoon that embattled Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was fired. When Bartz came to power in January 2009 I compared her to then newly elected Barak Obama. Both confronted crises and high expectations. Both have seen goodwill erode and give way to disappointment. Low Employee Approval The task of both chief executives was to turn around a their respective enterprises. Obama has not been able to do it and may face an electoral ouster next year. And after a number of flat or down quarters Bartz was removed over the phone yesterday. That followed several months [...]

Confirmed: Bartz Out As Yahoo CEO

Sep 6, 2011 at 7:21pm ET by Matt McGee

Details are very sparse, but All Things Digital is reporting that Carol Bartz's rocky tenure as Yahoo CEO has ended. All Things Digital reports that current CFO Tim Morse will take over the CEO spot on an interim basis. Speculation raged earlier this summer that Bartz' days were numbered when Yahoo announced weak Q2 financials. She'll be remembered for brokering the Yahoo-Microsoft search and ads deal that effectively put Yahoo out of the search engine business (aside from display; Yahoo's search results have been powered fully by Microsoft). We'll have more on this as information [...]

After Weak Q2 Time May Be Running Out For Yahoo’s Bartz

Jul 20, 2011 at 10:55am ET by Greg Sterling

She was supposed to help turn around the company, but Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz may soon be the one in turnaround because of another mixed or mediocre quarter. The search alliance and revenue share with Microsoft was partly blamed for Q2 revenues being down compared the same period last year: Revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs ("revenue ex-TAC") was $1,076 million for the second quarter of 2011, a 5 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2010, primarily due to the revenue share related to the Search Agreement with Microsoft . . . GAAP revenue was $1,229 million for the second quar [...]

Why Is The Yahoo/Microsoft Ad Deal Going Wrong? Advertisers Share Their Views

Apr 27, 2011 at 8:10am ET by Pamela Parker

Last week's Yahoo earnings report showed another decline in search revenues for the once-strong search player, and it's blaming the latest figures on the Microsoft relationship. Is this right? What could they do better to attract marketers, and more of their dollars, to the search alliance? I reached out to a few folks who live and breathe search marketing to find some answers. Poor Traffic Quality The most common factor cited for lower revenues was the poor quality of Yahoo traffic, especially from the company's partner network. "The emerging reality [is] that the depth and quality of Ya [...]

The Yahoo Search Revenue Disaster

Apr 20, 2011 at 10:56am ET by Danny Sullivan

Yesterday, Yahoo reported a second quarter of massive declines in its search revenue. Yahoo blamed the "headwind" of paying its partner Microsoft 12% of Yahoo's net search revenues. Yahoo also said Microsoft's ads are underperforming. But even without these factors, Yahoo has seen an almost unbroken quarterly decline in search revenues since 2008. Failure is not all down to Microsoft. POSTSCRIPT: Since I wrote this, I've talked with Yahoo. Be sure to read the postscripts that have been added to various sections. POSTSCRIPT 2 (July 19, 2012): See As The Yahoo-Microsoft Search Alliance Fa [...]

Yahoo Q1 2011 Mixed: Display Up, Search Down, Revenues $1.06 Billion

Apr 19, 2011 at 5:20pm ET by Greg Sterling

Yahoo reported Q1 revenues of $1,064 million, which represented a 6 percent decline vs. a year ago. The company essentially blamed the search deal with Microsoft for the decline: [The decline was] primarily due to the required change in revenue presentation related to the Search Agreement and the associated revenue share with Microsoft. For transitioned markets (U.S. and Canada), Yahoo! now reports revenue associated with the Search Agreement on a net (after TAC) basis rather than a gross basis. Excluding the impact of these two items and the impact of the divestitures of Zimbra and HotJobs, [...]

Yahoo’s AllTheWeb To Redirect To Yahoo Search April 4th

Mar 18, 2011 at 5:51pm ET by Barry Schwartz

AllTheWeb one of the search engines Yahoo acquired in 2003 to help build Yahoo Search, will be sunsetting on April 4, 2011. After April 4th, when you try to access AllTheWeb, you will be redirected to Yahoo Search's home page. A message posted on the AllTheWeb.com reads: Yahoo! will be closing AlltheWeb on April 4, 2011, as we focus on other features to improve your search experience. Starting on April 4, 2011, http://www.alltheweb.com will redirect to Yahoo! Search at http://search.yahoo.com. Thanks for your understanding. This is not unexpected. A Yahoo documented was leaked containin [...]

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