Tomorrow marks Jerry Yang’s one year anniversary of his first day as CEO of Yahoo.
What a year it’s been. Yahoo failed to sell itself to Microsoft, handed its search marketing business to Google, and lost nearly all of its key executives. It’s shareholders are in open revolt, and the board appears to be ignoring the situation.
In a blog post on his first day on the job, Yang thanked former CEO Terry Semel, praised President Sue Decker, saying she has “a fierce focus on winning.” And he outlined his joint vision for success that he shared with Decker:
What is that vision? A Yahoo! that executes with speed, clarity and discipline. A Yahoo! that increases its focus on differentiating its products and investing in creativity and innovation. A Yahoo! that better monetizes its audience. A Yahoo! whose great talent is galvanized to address its challenges. And a Yahoo! that is better focused on what’s important to its users, customers, and employees…
I have absolute conviction about Yahoo!’s potential for long-term success as an Internet leader. Yahoo! is a company that started with a vision and a dream and, make no mistake, that dream is very much alive. I’m committed to doing whatever it takes to transform Yahoo! into an even greater success in the future.
The time for me is right. The time is now. The Internet is still young, the opportunities ahead are tremendous, and I’m ready to rally our nearly 12,000 Yahoos around the world to help seize them.
Even now, a year later, it seems clear that the Yang/Decker team have no real vision for where the company will go. The dream may still be alive, but it’s not clear it will be for much longer. We expect Yang to step down as CEO shorty, or else the board will need to issue a statement of support. There is too much negative energy focused on him as leader right now.
“And a Yahoo! that is better focused on what’s important to its users, customers, and employees…”
Notice nothing about share holders….
what is the tenure of yhoo’s various board members? they have failed the shareholders as much as jerry - they were the ones who had the power to end the terry debacle before it was too late as well as help a new ceo use better judgment…
Jerry,
Hang in there….Semel poisoned the company and the culture and it will take a bit to undo all his damages.
@ryan i think they leave out the shareholders because ‘what’s important’ to them is success.
He has done a fantastic job at really screwing-up Yahoo… he is either the most incredible turn-around artist out there and will prove us all wrong or become synonymous with Machiavellian business tactics.
Jon
http://woodmarvels.com - Create Unique Memories
He must be having one of those really cloudy dreams that you can only see three inches in front of your face and you have to feel everywhere you go.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be heading in the right direction in his dream.
Thanks for this hard hitting post. You’re becoming a broken record.
you wouldn’t have called him “CEO shorty” if he were 6′5″ now would you?
I haven’t paid much attention to his tenure as CEO until the Microhoo deal, but he’s really f*cked them up. I mean, it was bad before, but he hasn’t helped it and turning down Microsoft made it worse. The Google deal’s a new low for them.
It takes years to undo What Semel has done to yahoo. The culture of Yahoo is poisoned with politics. They are gradually going back to their root of innovation, mind you they have to fight google, msn, and themselves, until they unlearn all of Semel’s bad habits.
It’s not going to be easy, but one thing is of for sure, he seem to have a cool head and has yet to feel intimidated by Semel’s pal Ichan, external pressures, etc.
Though challenging than anyone can think of, Jerry has done tremendous job by keeping MS away from destroying Yahoo once and for all - at the same time he is successful in focusing on new properties and increasing value - greedy people can only look for short-term goals while Jerry and his board has proved that they are here for long lasting game, though few might think that game is over but its not, in fact he is in much stronger position as he can now build new team that can support his dream and vision. Its just the matter of time …
CONGRATULATIONS JERRY !
Wow…this wasn’t near as nasty as I thought it was going to be (I saw the title and the byline and figured this was going Ol’ Jerr was going to get beaten up pretty good)
People hate when I say this but Yahoo!’s never really had an identity.
They aren’t a technology company. The product they started with is something a reasonably skilled 12 year old could create now days. And they aren’t a company that executes well, at every turn they’ve blow it business wise.
Essentially they’re the very definition of a “Right Time/Right Place” company.
So they’ve basically been running around like a chicken with their head cut off since the dot-com bust. Acquiring companies like a tech firm, then focusing on original content like an entertainment firm, then going back to acquiring companies like a tech firm again.
So you have Jerry Yang, basically a guy who got lucky once but who hasn’t proven himself as either a technologist or a business man, put in charge of a billion dollar international company that was already directionless. What exactly did everyone think was going to happen?
thought this was tuesday…. not let’s bitch about yahoo/jerry again day!
mike.. gotta hand it to you.. you’re like a screaming guy who won’t let go of something, until the next something comes along.
but the funny thing is.. you haven’t had a major role in anything/organization that’s even a fraction of the size of yahoo…
hmmm.. so just why should your opinion about this matter…
peace
Great Post. Tom (above) touches on the key issue. Are they a media company? Are they a technology company? Or are that going to lead the pack and learn how to combine the two and create an entirely new category? (Which is what MSFT and many others are trying to do.)
No answer from Jerry - his “vision” is a summary of operational skills. Those could apply to any company. That, by definition, is not vision, strategy, or a roadmap to success.
Should’ve been acquired by MSFT…
We get it: Michael Arrington doesn’t like Yahoo and he especially doesn’t like Jerry Yang.
I don’t either.
But this gives new meaning to the phrase “broken record” and I can’t help but ask myself: just what is Arrington trying to accomplish here?
yahoo! should change its name to “ohwell :(” or something similar. i’ve supported them for a long time, but (post google deal), i’m done. the deadpool now awaits . . .
Did someone get the vision? I got lost among the usual big corporation BS about innovation and operational excellence.
Come on, something exciting for the millions using Yahoo everyday - and I’m not talking about another useless homepage/webmail/what-have-you redesign.
Maybe Steve Jobs could help… iYahoo?
millionaires and billionaires get lazy real quick. bottomline yahoo is through. lost all respect sleeping with google. complete desperation. where the hell is panama. dont blame semmel. this fiasco is on everybodies hands. end of the day who cares, the people losing money on yahoo can afford too……….there rich anyway you look at it. you wont find any grandmas on a fixed income invested in yahoo.
I think it’s a little bit early to count him out, personally I never used the site, but now I go there daily.
Some of you are amazing. You think Jerry single handedly did this to Yahoo!. No, it was Semel, and Yang is working on cleaning up his mess. Top execs leaving? Good riddance. They’re part of the problem anyways, according to a lot of you bashing Yahoo! right? So who wants people working for them that don’t believe in the brand, or that it can and will bounce back. I remember when everyone looked at Apple the same way.. Given time to do their own thing, they didn’t turn out half bad.
The tech industry is not a short term investment, nor should it be. And who cares about Google?? They’re a search engine, Yahoo! is a media company with search, stop comparing them and focus on other aspects of Yahoo!. PPC is pittance to what the new world of display ads is going to be.
Be honest.. how much attention do YOU pay to sponsored results?
not sure whether to wish him or not, so decided not to being he doesn’t deserve it.
The very fact that Yahoo! is still around is something amazing. They started in 1994, after all! They could have so easily gone the way of the World Wide Web Worm or countless other sites that weren’t able to stand the test of time. Instead, Yahoo! is still one of the most popular web sites on the Internet as well as the second most popular search engine and it continues to be a profitable company. Happy anniversary, Jerry Yang! You’ve got a lot to be proud about, but a lot to prove as well.
Mike,
I love it. TechCrunch is equally as informative as it is entertaining. Rock on man.
@Microboo - ummm…If you’re trying to defend Jerry Yang Apple might not be the best example. Considering the fact that Apple was messed up and what they did to fix it was to oust the CEO and put the place under completely new management.
I don’t recall anyone saying Apple was doomed a year after Jobs was back in charge.
I understand why everyone is jumping on the “I hate Yahoo” bandwagon. It is hard not to with the bad press they are getting. However everyone is overlooking one key thing. What fun it would be to lead Yahoo right now.
I liken it to taking over the New York Knicks and making them a winner. Sure Yahoo is down and out. Sure it looks like they made a bad deal. But talk about a chance for someone to really make a name for themselves.
To be able to go into Yahoo, remake the company, and bring it back to where it will be a real competitor to Google. What would be more fun?
Sure they are losing so called key people but maybe it is time to clean house. Yahoo has been lost for a long, long time. They have many innovative useful features, but no idea how to sell or present them to users. All the pieces to compete with Google in terms of infrastructure is there. They just don’t know how to put the pieces together.
All it takes is building a team with a real solid vision.
I wrote a blog post about this (specifically, about Yahoo considering buying Myspace after Jerry Yang took over) with my suggestions for how to improve Yahoo:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ro.....10031.html
Still think it would have been the best route for them to take. Of course, they didn’t do any of it.
Where is the article on Microsoft? Arent they trailing google also? As much as Balmer likes to talk the only thing keeping Microsoft afloat is the Windows/Office monopoly.
Arrington is trying to become the Howard Stern of blogging.
Thanks for this hard hitting post
Viva Yahoo!… Onward, upward!
Hurray for Jerry and Yahoo! for successfully fighting off a hostile takeover by MicroGreed. MG would have gutted Yahoo! like a carp and left years of product research, innovation and creativity floundering for existence. With MG out of the immediate spotlight, Carl has lost his platform for media attention. Hopefully he’ll lose interest altogether and find another struggling company to conquer. Hang in there Jerry, great new Yahoo! products are in the pipeline and ready to thrill, amaze and yodel the world once again.