Topic: Silicon Valley

Yahoo Compels Employees to Take Extended Holiday

According to the Wall Street Journal Yahoo is compelling most employees to take the week after Xmas off, using vacation or unpaid leave. It is also shutting down offices until after January 1. The move is an effort to save money. Yahoo employees over the past few years have been “encouraged” but until now not […]

Brad Garlinghouse To Run AOL’s Email, IM & Venture Units From West Coast

Brad Garlinghouse, who was previously an SVP at Yahoo, and the author of the now famous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” is joining AOL as president of Internet and Mobile communications. What this means is that he’ll be responsibile for email, IM and other communications tools, which implicates a range of properties including Bebo. According to the […]

Can Yahoo Really Compete In Search By “Owning The Interface”?

During the Yahoo-Microsoft conference call with CEOs Bartz and Ballmer and subsequent discussion with Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi and Yahoo’s Hilary Schneider we heard repeatedly that although the two engines would share a single index and Microsoft would incorporate elements of Yahoo Search (e.g., Search Monkey) into Bing, Yahoo would continue to be different and vital […]

Reports: Yahoo & Microsoft Very Close On Search Deal

There are several reports tonight that Yahoo and Microsoft are close to consummating a search and advertising deal. 24/7 Wall Street cites an investment banker who says a deal is “imminent.” All Things Digital says an agreement is “down to the short strokes,” but also points out that the companies have been down this road […]

SEO

Yahoo Hires Software Exec For Top Communications Job

Yahoo has reportedly hired Eric Brown as head of communications for the company according to the Wall Street Journal. Brown is now VP of corporate relations for NetApp. New Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele also previously worked at NetApp. Brown will directly report to Steele. AllThingsD has Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s memo announcing Brown’s hiring: Eric […]

Google Q1 Revs $5.5 billion, Down 3 Percent Vs. Q4

Although revenues grew 6 percent compared with Q1 2008, Google suffered its first quarter-over-quarter decline (3 percent), as it announced Q1 revenues this afternoon. From the press release: Revenues – Google reported revenues of $5.51 billion in the first quarter of 2009, representing a 6% increase over first quarter 2008 revenues of $5.19 billion and […]

SEO

SearchBiz: Google’s Balancing Act, Mr. Schmidt Goes To Washington (?), Yahoo’s Next CEO, Autonomy Jumps The Highway, Black Friday Mixed & The Gift Of Smut-Free Free Internet Access

There’s lots of news today and from over the US holiday weekend. Much of it concerns Yahoo and Google, as it often does in this column. The big buzz generated over the weekend was from the UK’s Times Online report that there was a tentative deal reached between Yahoo and Microsoft to buy the former’s […]

Election Results From The Search Engines & Beyond

Today, the United States is electing a new president, voting on one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate, and voting on all 435 seats in the House of Representatives. An important election? To say the least! And interest in the election results is higher than many of us “experienced” voters can ever remember. Tonight, […]

Cool (or Cuil) Still Has To Play By The Rules

I recently did an opening keynote down in Silicon Valley and before my audience got well into their first cup of coffee, I started ranting at them. Now, being Canadian, my rants are rather mild and non- threatening (although I apparently scared a lot of Aussies at SMX in Sydney) but consider it a kinder, […]

Yahoo And Microsoft Hold Informal Talks About Combining Companies

In what may be a sign that Yahoo is starting to accept the very real possibility of being acquired by Microsoft, various sources, including the Wall Street Journal and CNET, are reporting that informal discussions were held between the companies on Monday in Silicon Valley. According to the WSJ’s report, Microsoft representatives pitched their vision […]

SEO

24 Meets SMX West: Mike McDonald’s Funny Trailer At WebProNews

In a few hours, I’m jumping on a plane and heading out to our SMX West search marketing conference, which hits Silicon Valley from Feb. 26-28. My journey will hopefully be much easier than Mike McDonald’s. To kick off his WebProNews video coverage of the show, he’s got a spoof of being kidnapped for answers. […]

SEO

Tech Companies Go After Yahoo Employees In Wake Of Microsoft & Layoff News

Silicon Valley Recruiters Zero In On Yahoo Employees from CNNMoney reports that technology recruiters are being inundated with requests from technology companies for them to find and secure Yahoo employees. Specifically, these technology companies are seeking developers, project managers, and key executives who may want to jump ship ahead of a possible Yahoo-Microsoft merger and […]

Socializing Before & During SMX West 2008

We expect more than 1,500 people to attend Search Engine Land’s three-day Search Marketing Expo West conference later this month in Silicon Valley. A monster show! There will be sessions stuffed with search marketing knowledge and a bustling expo floor. But it needn’t scare those looking to network. We’ve carefully coordinated a number of events […]

The Latest From Jerry: Stay Focused, Yahoos!

Yet another employee letter to Yahoos from CEO Jerry Yang has now become public, thanks to Yahoo being required to file these things with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. It makes you wonder why Yahoo (and Microsoft) don’t just publicly blog these letters to their workers, since they come out anyway

SEO

Search Year 2007: Search News, In Review

Each month, I compile Search Month — a recap of all the stories that have happened relating to search, categorized by topic. I thought it would be fun to take all the Search Months over the past year and produce this edition of Search Year 2007. It was far more work than I imagined, but […]

Your Guide To The Google Jet

It’s now confirmed that NASA has granted Google’s cofounders landing rights for their private jet at Moffett Field. That’s a NASA-run airport practically next door to Google, now making the founders the envy of other Silicon Valley execs who could only dream of the same. With the news out, it seemed a good time to […]

Goodbye Search Engine Strategies!

It’s Search Engine Strategies San Jose next week. For Chris Sherman and I, it’s our swan song. This is the last SES event that either of us will program, with our search marketing conference efforts going forward focused on our own Search Marketing Expo (SMX) events. But we’ve put our all into making the last […]

Did Wojcicki Create AdSense?

Yesterday we wrote Profile Of Susan Wojcicki: Mother Of AdSense. covering a USA Today article article describing Susan Wojcicki as being responsible for creating Google AdSense. Valleywag soon came out with a bold blog post countering USA Today’s article, calling Wojcicki a liar: AdSense was not a prototype that Wojcicki developed. Instead, AdSense was the […]

The “Is Google Too Powerful” Question Raised Once Again

Is Google Too Powerful? from BusinessWeek is a fresh look at an old topic on Google’s continued growth and power. A key part of the BusinessWeek’s article: Googlezon, GoogleWorld, just plain Google—whatever you call it, it’s scaring the wits out of everyone from the power lunchers of Hollywood to Madison Avenue ad moguls to Silicon […]