Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge • Hacker News Board

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#221

Post by bane » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 1:04 PM UTC

jsnathan wrote: post #91

PhilWright wrote: post #82

Whenever I see a struggling company like this I ask myself the simple question. If the company didn't exist, would there be a need to create it? In the case of Yahoo I think the answer is no. If they disappeared tomorrow there would be no compelling reason for others to try and fill the gap it left behind. Hell, I doubt most people would even noticed they had gone. So they need to build a new business from the dying…

I think a good idea would be to host an innovation challenge. They are already bringing in outside consultants from McKinsey, but in this day and age, how about turning to the crowd for help? If they posted significant cash prices (say $1m total) and let their users vote on the best ideas, I bet they could find some fresh directions. Also bet it would cost a fraction of what they pay McKinsey. Edit: In fact, why stop…

> They are already bringing in outside consultants from McKinsey

This usually means a the execs need to take a political difficult action (layoffs, etc.) and need the "cover" of a highly paid firm to look like "experts" suggested it to redirect blame away from the execs.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#222

Post by humanrebar » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 1:15 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #151

nugget wrote: post #131

You need to own and exploit a monopoly in order to grow into a true tech heavyweight. Facebook has social (and all the traffic and user data that comes with it), Microsoft has the OS and utilities, Apple has the OS, hardware, and apps, and Google has search and (tbd) Android apps. Unless you monopolize something of extreme value (user data or a platform), you should focus on just making money, although unfortunately…

I think you're missing the forest from the trees. Monopolies in software are created through excellence. If Facebook "has social" that's because they were and still are the best social network. Of course, now that they are big, they've got a huge lock-in effect, but that's besides the point. Microsoft "has the OS" (and I might add Office) because Windows really has been the best general purpose, generally available O…

> If Facebook "has social" that's because they were and still are the best social network. > Microsoft "has the OS"

Do network effects count as excellence?

> Not sure what monopoly Apple has

Does vertical integration count as excellence? What about lock-in contracts (i.e., from AT&T).

> Google "has search"

Of all these, everyone could quit google.com tomorrow if they wanted to.

I'm not saying you're entirely wrong, but just saying they make the best product is missing a huge part of the picture. Maybe saying they have the best business plan makes more sense, assuming you're fine with businesses driven by leverage instead of technical excellence.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#223

Post by jfb » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 1:29 PM UTC

iofj wrote: post #199

nostromo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure there was some sort of bonus involved. They're called retention bonuses. Similar to signing bonuses, you can be contractually obligated to pay them back if you don't stay for the term of the contract. Most companies will keep retention bonuses very hush-hush.

Aren't retention bonuses in terms of cash you have to pay back if you quit illegal ? (Note: cash paid if you're still there after a period is very much legal)

It would be structured as a loan.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#224

Post by Glan1984 » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 1:39 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #157

toephu2 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why not just say what company that is?

The OP says "Fortune 5". The candidates are Walmart, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Berkshire Hathaway, and Apple. Which one of those has super bowl ads and uses Akamai? There's your answer.

Or he mean't fortune 500... Apple is not likely given the other conditions of what he cannot say.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#225

Post by TheCondor » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 1:39 PM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #83

hooande wrote: post #75

Yahoo started as a couple of people who said "This internet thing has a lot of content now, let's try to organize it for people." They should go back to doing that, and throw 20 years worth of technology and cultural growth at the problem. Along with as much manpower and machine learning tech as hundreds of millions of dollars can buy. I do enjoy the drama of the Mayer Saga, but it doesn't seem like any of Yahoo's at…

>But it does seem like Yahoo isn't doing anything innovative right now. Aren't they starting to stream nfl games for free? The first one they did was from what I heard handled very well. I thought there was talks about more.

With their brand equity, is it possible for them to innovate?

It isnt hip enough to be cool, it's not big enough to be Facebook or google, it's a $30billion company that some how has the branding of the internets AOL. If yahoo "innovates" it will immediately be uncool.

Morale issues definitely can make things more difficult but are things really that dire there? Best thing I can see they've got going for them is the analysts are still foolish enough to rate Amazon as a tech company and not as a Walmart competitor that does some tech; they don't have great ways to classify these companies. It doesnt seem like yahoo is doing foolish things, it might be more of a bellwether for the free everything and monetize the traffic industry.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#226

Post by teh_klev » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

For the less gifted, such as myself, at getting around paywalls:

https://archive.is/8NoAM

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#227

Post by christinecha » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 2:55 PM UTC

christinecha wrote: post #121

PhilWright wrote: post #82

Whenever I see a struggling company like this I ask myself the simple question. If the company didn't exist, would there be a need to create it? In the case of Yahoo I think the answer is no. If they disappeared tomorrow there would be no compelling reason for others to try and fill the gap it left behind. Hell, I doubt most people would even noticed they had gone. So they need to build a new business from the dying…

I think that this is definitely the ideal move under different circumstances. But that wouldn't be a viable solution for Yahoo. Currently, even at its 'dying' state, Yahoo has huge traffic from extremely loyal users who are mostly in the higher income (30+) age range. To dump that out the window would be an incredibly irresponsible business move. It's easy for a small, young company to pivot, but an old giant like Ya…

Adding a source for reading: http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2378009/yahoo-bing-n...

This is from last year. A market that is mostly 35+ and women of higher income (aka the spending decision makers)? It's not something that should be dismissed.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#228

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 3:43 PM UTC

cft wrote: post #84

chollida1 wrote: post #24

Sometimes, well it actually happens quite often, a company just runs its course and is better off just winding things up and closing shop. IMHO it looks like the likely end game for Yahoo is: - taken private by a Private Equity firm - divest Yahoo Japan and Alibaba - any divisions that aren't making an actual profit, (tumblr, flickr, fantasy sports, etc, will be shopped around and sold if possible, or shuttered if no…

It depends on who is trying to resurrect it: Marissa Meyer or Steve Jobs. Imagine a reality show: Jobs or Musk in 2010 were tasked to turn Yahoo around, and the rules were that they would only have access to Yahoo's internal resources and cash. I would bet with my money buying Yahoo stock that they would reverse the curves.

"When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact." -- Warren Buffett

I really doubt either Steve Jobs or Elon Musk could turn Yahoo around. With Jobs's Apple turnaround, he had the advantage of sharing (creating, really) Apple's cultural DNA; he didn't need to "turn around" a company, he needed to cut the fat and refocus it so it could do what it was doing a lot better. Elon Musk has never run a turnaround; his companies have certainly encountered difficulties, but it's easier to take a new organization with a strong mission and make it work than to take an old, sclerotic organization in a market that doesn't exist anymore and somehow make it relevant again.

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#229

Post by aws_ls » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 3:44 PM UTC

IMHO Yahoo's biggest mistake was never grokking search. And they had two opportunities.

First: When Larry and Sergei wanted to sell their search engine to them for a few millions, in the late 90s. They said they are focused on curated content, which was the future they apparently believed in. (Just paraphrasing from memory, the stories read in various articles and books on Google & search). But I also wonder, even if Yahoo had bought them out then, would the world be different today. Perhaps, the inevitable future of search would have been just a bit delayed. May be evolved like social networks.

Second: Killing their own search engine in early 2000s, when they had some 30% search share. That was after they tried using Google's search API. Then they started to use Bing. I clearly remember that although Google was the best, but one knew people (lazy friends) who would use Yahoo search. DDG has shown, there is always a market.

edit: typo

Re: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Faces Morale Challenge

#230

Post by jerednel » Wed, Nov 25, 2015, 4:30 PM UTC

emcrazyone wrote: post #126

christinecha wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that this is definitely the ideal move under different circumstances. But that wouldn't be a viable solution for Yahoo. Currently, even at its 'dying' state, Yahoo has huge traffic from extremely loyal users who are mostly in the higher income (30+) age range. To dump that out the window would be an incredibly irresponsible business move. It's easy for a small, young company to pivot, but an old giant like Ya…

"Yahoo has huge traffic from extremely loyal users who are mostly in the higher income (30+) age range." Is that statement a fact? If so, care to substantiate it. I work for one of the largest companies in the world and we no longer use Yahoo; we use too. Every year in the US, the Superbowl pulls in HUGE dollars in advertisements. I have to plan for this every year and have been doing this for the past 10 years. Arou…

Yahoo Japan is strong though not majority owned by Yahoo itself. I think if you look at markets outside of just the US you'll find that the landscape is sometimes more diverse. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/04/24/reference/yahoo-...