MediaMemo » Jerry Yang

First Up for Carol Bartz: Deliver Yahoo's Miserable Q4 Report Card

Peter Kafka — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:50:20 +0000

One of the first duties for new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz: Deliver a brutal fourth-quarter report card for the company she just inherited.

So says Citi (C) analyst Mark Mahaney, who predicts that Yahoo (YHOO) will post a one percent year-over-year decline in its core display ad business when it reports fourth-quarter earnings Jan. 27. That would be the first time that’s ever happened in the company’s history. Mahaney, in his best dry analyst-speak, describes that as a “significant negative.”

It also won’t be a huge surprise: As the chart above (click to enlarge) illustrates, Yahoo’s display advertising has been weakening throughout the year. The same has been happening to its peers, too: Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL may be about to post an 18 percent drop in its ad revenue.

Industrywide, Mahaney thinks, display ads will climb two percent this year. (That makes him an optimist in some quarters.)

And if Bartz does have to deliver lousy news, now is the best possible time to do it: This will get laid at the feet of Jerry Yang, Sue Decker and the economy in general.

Next quarter, though? A different story.

Advice for Fired Yahoos: How to Build Your Own Business That Doesn't Suck

Peter Kafka — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:30:18 +0000

I don’t know if the timing is intentional, but it is fortuitous: On the same day that Yahoo (YHOO) is firing a couple thousand people, entrepreneur John Buckman is offering up a how-to guide for building your own business, over at LeWeb in Paris.

This won’t help former Yahoos who don’t have a nest egg, health insurance, and/or the drive or inclination to do their own thing. But it’s free advice, and it’s relatively sound advice for those who do want to strike out on their own.

Don’t be alarmed by the fact that there are 119 slides here–most of them have just a few words each. Around slide 79, Buckman slips into mini-pitch mode for Magnatune, his indie music distribution company. But that doesn’t last long–just power through. Oh–and don’t be alarmed by the title. Buckman’s point is that you’ll be happier working for yourself than you were working for Jerry Yang and co.

Employees Suck

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: bookmooch magnatune)

Steve Ballmer to Jerry Yang: I'm Not Buying You

Peter Kafka — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:40:54 +0000

On Wednesday, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang suggested that “the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo.” That’s not going to happen, says Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, speaking at a conference in Sydney. But Ballmer does leave the door open for a search deal. FT:

We made an offer…We made another offer. It was clear that [Yahoo] doesn’t want to sell the business to us and we moved on. We tried at one point to do a partnership around search, not an acquisition. And that didn’t work either, and we moved on…and they moved on…We are not interested in going back and relooking at an acquisition. I don’t know why they would be either, frankly. They turned us down at $33 a share…I’m sure there are still opportunities for some kind of partnership around search.”