Yahoo Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang • Hacker News Board

Re: Yahoo Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang

#81

Post by barredo » Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 10:48 AM UTC

gcb wrote: post #80

barredo wrote: post #2

Wonder if Yahoo! will get real shitty. Then, 10 years from now, Yang will come back, save the company and make it the most tech profitable company ever. Better buy some stock. :-)

not that far fetched. think you being mostly downvoted for language and emoticon. this is a /. comment about the case, mentioning jobs "resigned after 9 years. Sold all his stock. Apple III had failed. Mac was fine, but the board wanted an "adult" in charge. Steve returned in 12 years"

I'm not angry about downvotes. I know jokes have no place in HN :-)

Re: Yahoo Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang

#82

Post by gcb » Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 6:50 PM UTC

gcb wrote: post #16

bluedevil2k wrote: post #5

I'd be interested to learn about his views and opinions on Yahoo during these past 15+ years. From the various things I've read about him, he seems like he was just a nerd at heart who wasn't interested in the entire business side of Yahoo, and when Yahoo started exploding, he had that "Allen/Woz" mentality of missing the "good old days". I heard about the stories (fair or not) of him spending more time on the golf c…

when he said "No" to Microsoft's offer for acquisition, a very foolish move looking back. name companies acquired by Microsoft when microsoft already had competing products, which ended up well for both parties. honest question. I have to believe there are a couple. and i'd like to know about.

i love how this question became a parallel discussion about the CEO responsability to the board, but NO ONE addrese

Re: Yahoo Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang

#83

Post by gcb » Thu, Jan 19, 2012, 6:53 PM UTC

gcb wrote: post #16

bluedevil2k wrote: post #5

I'd be interested to learn about his views and opinions on Yahoo during these past 15+ years. From the various things I've read about him, he seems like he was just a nerd at heart who wasn't interested in the entire business side of Yahoo, and when Yahoo started exploding, he had that "Allen/Woz" mentality of missing the "good old days". I heard about the stories (fair or not) of him spending more time on the golf c…

when he said "No" to Microsoft's offer for acquisition, a very foolish move looking back. name companies acquired by Microsoft when microsoft already had competing products, which ended up well for both parties. honest question. I have to believe there are a couple. and i'd like to know about.

i love how this question became a parallel discussion about the CEO responsibility to the board, but NOBODY addressed the main point.

if no one can mention how a deal with MS does not KILL the company, how can they defend that a deal was the best?

CEO et al job is to maximize value for the company. not to serve shareholders that want to make a quick buck turning around shares.

Re: Yahoo Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang

#84

Post by jleader » Fri, Jan 20, 2012, 6:45 PM UTC

schraeds wrote: post #58

microarchitect wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I don't think "fixing" Yahoo ought to be as difficult as people make it seem. I worked for a semi-dysfunctional semiconductor company and so I think I have some perspective on what it takes to "fix" a company like Yahoo. I think the biggest reason a company becomes like Yahoo has less to do with senior management and more to do with the fact that the company is filled with low to m…

"Swat Teams" of vetted talent to handle the most prized assets and initiatives. Let the cruft keep up day to day, apply proven talent to the most important initiatives piece by piece. ie. Apple and the iMac, then iPod, iBook, iWorks, Final Cut etc etc.

When I left Yahoo in 2008, they had such a "swat team", at least for software development (they called it a "tiger team"). Unfortunately, I don't think Yahoo's main problems at that time were technological. Maybe they needed a similar approach to product management?