Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#1

Post by Shofo » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 4:53 PM UTC

Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale
vox.com

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#2

Post by chuhnk » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:08 PM UTC

Is it actually for sale? Everyone is saying that it's basically for sale but the language used in the earnings call was very corporate, actually skating over the issue completely, talking about sale on "non-strategic" assets.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#3

Post by michaelmcdonald » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:14 PM UTC

Seems like a sensationalist headline designed to generate page-views. The company has not announced it's "for sale"; instead people are reading between the lines and coming to that as a conclusion based on corporate speak.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#4

Post by Shofo » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

chuhnk wrote: post #2

Is it actually for sale? Everyone is saying that it's basically for sale but the language used in the earnings call was very corporate, actually skating over the issue completely, talking about sale on "non-strategic" assets.

It is unofficially up for sale is what I take from the info released, i.e. they are actively working on the sale, but not making it official. I'd say it is due to Marissa currently trying to redevelop their internal working structures. How can you get unmotivated staff to be passionate and transition to new work methods if you say you are trying to dump the company.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#5

Post by ubercore » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:22 PM UTC

michaelmcdonald wrote: post #3

Seems like a sensationalist headline designed to generate page-views. The company has not announced it's "for sale"; instead people are reading between the lines and coming to that as a conclusion based on corporate speak.

Vox has been increasingly shrill in their headlines.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#6

Post by chuhnk » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:26 PM UTC

Shofo wrote: post #4

chuhnk wrote: post #2

Is it actually for sale? Everyone is saying that it's basically for sale but the language used in the earnings call was very corporate, actually skating over the issue completely, talking about sale on "non-strategic" assets.

It is unofficially up for sale is what I take from the info released, i.e. they are actively working on the sale, but not making it official. I'd say it is due to Marissa currently trying to redevelop their internal working structures. How can you get unmotivated staff to be passionate and transition to new work methods if you say you are trying to dump the company.

Very true. There's no easy way to handle it. To be honest, I think Yahoo would probably thrive as a private company with time to focus on long term vision as opposed to quarterly returns.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#7

Post by eatonphil » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:30 PM UTC

Yahoo is "focusing on its most successful products — including its search engine". I don't understand this. Isn't their search engine just Bing?

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#8

Post by Shofo » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:35 PM UTC

eatonphil wrote: post #7

Yahoo is "focusing on its most successful products — including its search engine". I don't understand this. Isn't their search engine just Bing?

Does anyone actually use their search engine? I always found it terrible the rare time I have used it (if some dingus has it set to homepage). I know for me the only thing that makes me stumble across Yahoo, is if I use their answer site. Only other reason, I'd imagine, is if you used their mail. Beyond that though there must be no way of driving traffic to Yahoo search. Seems impossible to try upend Google's grasp, without a serious transition of product positioning (like the DuckDuckGo position). Such a poorly managed company. It seems Marissa is some strategist...

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#9

Post by legitster » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:36 PM UTC

The crazy thing about Yahoo! was that they were actually in a pretty decent position just a few years ago. Alibaba exploded, Yahoo! is still the third most popular website in the world, and their finance and sports centers are still incredibly popular.

I think what we've seen is a complete failure to execute on any level. Compare that to someone like AOL who saw their brand tanking noticeably but intelligently diversified their business model.

Re: Yahoo lays off 1,700 and is up for sale

#10

Post by disposition2 » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 5:41 PM UTC

legitster wrote: post #9

The crazy thing about Yahoo! was that they were actually in a pretty decent position just a few years ago. Alibaba exploded, Yahoo! is still the third most popular website in the world, and their finance and sports centers are still incredibly popular. I think what we've seen is a complete failure to execute on any level. Compare that to someone like AOL who saw their brand tanking noticeably but intelligently divers…

> and sports centers are still incredibly popular

I only used their Fantasy Football (US) and only for 2 seasons but it was head and shoulders above all others..including the NFL's own fantasy league.