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Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

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Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#31

Post by dexwiz »

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat of a dark art. Web services are a dime a dozen, and Google or Facebook probably has a better one. Yahoo seemed like it failed to break into any enterprise offerings either.

Poor leadership, and failure to attract talent. They didn't have the same culture pull as Google/Facebook/Apple in the latest tech bubble. And why work for Yahoo if you could do the same thing with VCs funneling you money? I think one of the most telling things is the lack of OSS from Yahoo. Their top repo on github has been effectively dead for around a year [2]. Yahoo hasn't been a tech company is almost a decade, and it shows in their products. Not even their numerous acquihires have netted them anything.

EDIT: Looking at a timeline of Yahoo, they haven't launched a major product since 2006 (10 years). All new products have been bought [3]. Imagine if Google's last product was Docs. No Android, no Doubleclick, no Street View, no autocomplete in search, no Chrome.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yahoo!-owned_sites_and...

[2] https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=user%3Ayahoo&ref=searchre...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Yahoo!#2006

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#32

Post by jldugger »

dexwiz wrote: post #31

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat…

> Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale?

Intel and IBM come to mind.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#33

Post by danso »

cloudjacker wrote: post #26
danso wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is the primary factor behind Theranos's bubble the fact that its founder was a woman? That is a notable aspect but Elizabeth Holmes also leveraged powerful connections and a TED-friendly dream to get that hype. There are plenty of female-led startups that did not reach any notable status despite having a woman at the helm.

The bubble and valuation? Thats not the real discussion here. The meltdown of a company that has no consumer product would never have drawn clicks. Fidelity could have marked it down 50 times and never made the news. There are tons of biotech startups with lofty valuations.

There was a consumer product. They performed thousands of blood tests, which were available in Palo Alto and Arizona.

But it's false that companies that don't have a consumer product don't draw intense interest. Ask Enron. Or WorldCom. Or Blackwater. Or Lehman Brothers. Or the folks behind the AOL and Time Warner merger

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#34

Post by nostromo »

dexwiz wrote: post #31

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat…

Apple, of course. It's probably the biggest turn-around story of our time.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#35

Post by dexwiz »

jldugger wrote: post #32
dexwiz wrote: post #31

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat…

> Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Intel and IBM come to mind.

Neither of which are software companies. That is to say they offer hardware and services.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#36

Post by dredmorbius »

danso wrote: post #20
cloudjacker wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theranos. The valley is very sensitive towards women running companies with large valuations, that company's woes would otherwise have flown completely under the radar. The next one on the "overhyped but disappointing and in the valley list" would be Clinkle and its now 24 year old CEO. No women there but as you will see the valuations drop off a cliff pretty quickly in this list.

Why is the primary factor behind Theranos's bubble the fact that its founder was a woman? That is a notable aspect but Elizabeth Holmes also leveraged powerful connections and a TED-friendly dream to get that hype. There are plenty of female-led startups that did not reach any notable status despite having a woman at the helm.

I'd like to see a woman hired as CEO for whom the principle talking point isn't that she's female.

I don't fucking care.

Be competent. Be a decent person.

Meg Whitman is a horrible person from everything I've seen. She's managed not to kill what's left with HP after Carly Fiorina drove it into the ground.

I meant to search for "most notable (female|woman) tech ceo", but left out the gender qualification.

A top 10 list fails to include any women:

http://mashable.com/2014/03/21/top-tech-ceos/#WNfESM0rbqqN

A list of 13 likewise:

http://www.businessinsider.com/13-most-popular-tech-company-...

A slideshow item I refuse to link on principle lists Alibaba, HP, Oracle (co-CEO), IBM, Xerox, Yahoo, YouTube, and ... um, one other I've now forgotten, fuck the slideshow very much. Oh, AMD. None of which are startups.

Women hold 23 CEO positions (4.3%) of the S&P 500, four of which I've already mentioned:

http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-ceos-sp-500

http://www.businessinsider.com/13-most-popular-tech-company-...

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#37

Post by powera »

theli0nheart wrote: post #22
throwaway76543 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally this occurs when you exercise an option to purchase stock, then hold the stock while it significantly depreciates in value. Fairly common scenario during the dot-com bubble. 1) Option at $1 2) Exercise at $100, spending $1 to buy. Tax on $99 short term capital gains owed, or ~$35. 3) Stock falls to $10 and sold for a $9 profit. You still owe $35 capital gains and spent $1. Net loss of $25 per share.

> 2) Exercise at $100 [1], spending $1 to buy. Tax on $99 short term capital gains owed, or ~$35. This makes no sense. Simply exercising an option is not a taxable event--you're just trading a contract for shares of a stock. There's no money going into your bank account. Furthermore, you aren't taxed short-term capital gains when you haven't realized a profit. You'd need to exercise AND sell at $100 / share for those…

Excercising an option is taxable under the AMT.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#38

Post by bhickey »

theli0nheart wrote: post #22
throwaway76543 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally this occurs when you exercise an option to purchase stock, then hold the stock while it significantly depreciates in value. Fairly common scenario during the dot-com bubble. 1) Option at $1 2) Exercise at $100, spending $1 to buy. Tax on $99 short term capital gains owed, or ~$35. 3) Stock falls to $10 and sold for a $9 profit. You still owe $35 capital gains and spent $1. Net loss of $25 per share.

> 2) Exercise at $100 [1], spending $1 to buy. Tax on $99 short term capital gains owed, or ~$35. This makes no sense. Simply exercising an option is not a taxable event--you're just trading a contract for shares of a stock. There's no money going into your bank account. Furthermore, you aren't taxed short-term capital gains when you haven't realized a profit. You'd need to exercise AND sell at $100 / share for those…

It may make no sense, but the IRS disagrees with you. Exercising is a taxable event.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#39

Post by ams6110 »

nostromo wrote: post #34
dexwiz wrote: post #31

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat…

Apple, of course. It's probably the biggest turn-around story of our time.

Apple turned around by moving much more heavily into consumer hardware, specifically the iPod and then the iPhone and iPad. It was not really a software turnaround, though that was a smaller part of it.

Re: Yahoo misses profit expectations in what could be its last-ever earnings report

#40

Post by dredmorbius »

nostromo wrote: post #34
dexwiz wrote: post #31

Has there ever been a successful turnaround of a software company of Yahoo's scale? Mayer has been tech news' pinata for over a year now, but the company was sliding before she was even hired. Looking through a list of dead Yahoo services, it reads as an obituary of region specific social networking sites and forgettable web services[1]. Social sites are notoriously fickle, and boosting one to popularity is somewhat…

Apple, of course. It's probably the biggest turn-around story of our time.

Hardware.
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