Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo • Hacker News Board

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#51

Post by tanzam75 » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 12:10 AM UTC

kmfrk wrote: post #33

canistr wrote: post #10

To me, the most fascinating aspect of the article is the list of Yahoo acquisitions since Mayer joined: July 17, 2012 Marissa Mayer becomes Yahoo CEO October 25, 2012 Stamped (Social Recommendation) December 4, 2012 OnTheAir (Video Conferencing) January 22, 2013 Snip.it (Social Network) February 12, 2013 Alike (Social Recommendation) March 20, 2013 Jybe (Social Recommendation) March 25, 2013 Summly (News Aggregation,…

I found this Michael Wolff comment very interesting: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/07/... . Basically, an influential shareholder has resorted to spending company money (from deferred dividends and sale of the Alibaba stake, etc.) to drive up the company's stock, after which the shareholder cashed out, as the stock soared.

Thanks, that was an extremely interesting read.

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason behind the Yahoo acquisitions. For example, why Xobni? The two founders have already left Xobni. So if it was an acquihire, then who was Yahoo trying to acquihire? And if it wasn't, then why did they shut down their products?

But now I understand what was happening. It didn't matter what Yahoo was buying, or whether any of it made sense. In fact, the less sense it made, the more buzz got created, as people tried to figure out Marissa Mayer's master plan.

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#52

Post by timedoctor » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 2:18 AM UTC

This move of Mayer and Yahoo to buy a bunch of startups at difficult to justify valuations reeks of desperation. I think it's the continued downfall of Yahoo.

If you compare with Google acquisitions each of them are strategic and the aquihire acquisitions are at more reasonable valuations.

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#53

Post by MikeCapone » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 2:32 AM UTC

kmfrk wrote: post #33

canistr wrote: post #10

To me, the most fascinating aspect of the article is the list of Yahoo acquisitions since Mayer joined: July 17, 2012 Marissa Mayer becomes Yahoo CEO October 25, 2012 Stamped (Social Recommendation) December 4, 2012 OnTheAir (Video Conferencing) January 22, 2013 Snip.it (Social Network) February 12, 2013 Alike (Social Recommendation) March 20, 2013 Jybe (Social Recommendation) March 25, 2013 Summly (News Aggregation,…

I found this Michael Wolff comment very interesting: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2013/07/... . Basically, an influential shareholder has resorted to spending company money (from deferred dividends and sale of the Alibaba stake, etc.) to drive up the company's stock, after which the shareholder cashed out, as the stock soared.

That was unreadable, I had to stop after a few paragraphs. Could he sound any more biased and un-objective?

I know an opinion piece doesn't have to be neutral, but that was way shrill.

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#54

Post by jmathai » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 4:23 AM UTC

colmvp wrote: post #38

jmathai wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Karp is worth orders of magnitude more to Yahoo! than the rest of the team. Yahoo!'s always had engineers who could bring products to market. Their deficiency has long been with executives and the product groups.

Unless you know exactly who each person is on the team, that's making a lot of assumptions. I've seen enough companies that have key people who aren't co-founders that don't get a lot of public recognition but significantly make major contributions to the company. Some would even later become CEOs.

That's a valid point. I assume if those key players exist then they received a disproportionate % than other team members. Noting close to Karp though I'm sure.

I stand by my generalization though. Yahoo! doesn't need future CEOs. They need founders with the vision to execute on an idea.

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#55

Post by jmathai » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 4:24 AM UTC

ryguytilidie wrote: post #50

jmathai wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Karp is worth orders of magnitude more to Yahoo! than the rest of the team. Yahoo!'s always had engineers who could bring products to market. Their deficiency has long been with executives and the product groups.

Karp is worth orders of magnitude more to Yahoo! than the rest of the team. So you know the other members of the team and what value they bring? Would love to hear a breakdown from your end since you clearly know their capabilities. Edit: yeah asking for someone to explain an absurd generalization sure is grounds for downvotes...?

I up voted you. It's a valid question. See my response to one of the other sibling comments to yours.

Re: Tumblr founder to get $81 million to remain at Yahoo

#56

Post by untilHellbanned » Sat, Aug 10, 2013, 9:45 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #45

untilHellbanned wrote: post #36

$81 million sounds kinda low for the value of Tumblr.

Err, that's just the money that the founder got IN ADDITION to the sale, in order to stay with Yahoo. Tumblr was sold for 1.1 billion.

still think its low,