The Full Jerry Yang Interview at Web 2.0
by Michael Arrington on November 6, 2008

If you’re curious about the talk that spurred such negative coverage of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang yesterday, here it is. From our perspective he’s out of gas. And needs to step aside for a new leader.

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  • Ian Bell - November 6th, 2008 at 11:50 am PST

    How many times can you be pounded on Micheal before you look worn down?

    I am sure these interviews and questions are starting to get real old. He clearly states where they need help and that he is open to ideas.

    reply
    • brian - November 6th, 2008 at 12:50 pm PST

      Dude…totally agree.

      Yahoo has a lot of smart people (lot of guys from Stanford, MIT etc.). They know where they are and what they want.

      Please understand the economic is horribly screwed up. Unfortunately caught up in a economic crisis as well the recent Microsoft’s interest in take over etc…all added fuel to the fire.

      And…dont forget they are the pioneers of the internet (long before Google) and is still the world’s highest ranked website !!!

      http://www.livbit.com

      reply
  • silicon valley dropout - November 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pm PST

    thanks i was searching for this.

    reply
  • Tod - November 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm PST

    Dude, you’re a multi-millionaire. Drop your pride, bail out, and move to the Bahamas. I do not understand these people who make tonnes of money and then keep working!

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  • Kevin Milden - November 6th, 2008 at 12:15 pm PST

    I have to agree with Mike. It is a time of change. New leadership now.

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  • Trace - November 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm PST

    “Besides Yahoo, how are things going?” … great opening.

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  • SVDaily - November 6th, 2008 at 12:25 pm PST

    Look at the entire stock market. Yahoo stock isn’t going anywhere soon.

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  • matt - November 6th, 2008 at 12:37 pm PST

    If you look at the company aside from the takeovers and stock price, I think Jerry’s done a lot of great things. What would yahoo look like now if Terry Semel was still in charge? The Microsoft deal might have been block by regulators anyway.

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  • Pravin Halady - November 6th, 2008 at 12:43 pm PST

    Ousting Jerry is easy. The tougher question is: What could a new CEO do that Jerry can’t (or won’t)?
    1> He/she could bring a secret sauce that suddenly makes Yahoo Search business reverse it’s slowdown and make it grow exponentially
    2> He/she could have an Obama-like power of persuasion to make Microsoft come back with a great deal (higher than $20 a share, lower than $33)
    3> He/she could be a deal wizard who could figure out a dream merger with a media biggie!
    Reality is in today’s economic environment, all of the above look unlikely and so a new CEO will do nothing to Yahoo’s strategy or share-price. Jerry is needed to hold whatever’s left of the company together….
    Once the economy recovers, he should gracefully leave…he does not have the ability to create strategy and drive revenues for the large conglomerate that Yahoo is today, but now is not the time to bring in someone like Chainsaw Al….

    reply
  • Carl Morris - November 6th, 2008 at 12:45 pm PST

    I use Flickr, I use Delicious. I know those are old news but they remain great services. FireEagle’s cool too. I feel bad for the guy, but hey. He looks tired and he’s not hyping all the cool stuff they’re doing.

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  • LyQuSay Facebook App - November 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm PST

    Dudes/Dudettes,

    The Yahoo-Google deal had a very high probability in NOT going through anyways when the Feds going to rule with the anti-trust and monopoly regulations. I think there should be a change in management; but not sure what that will gain in reality in this economic down-turn.

    reply
  • InterviewLocator.com - November 6th, 2008 at 2:06 pm PST

    i think he held up pretty well considering the timing. most ceo’s would not put themselves out there like this. i was impressed with his interview demeanor. appears when your a billionaire life is good regardless of the hurricane you face.

    CeoLocator.com- leaders rule.

    reply
  • Wynman - November 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm PST

    the company is soooo broken. i’m not sure anybody ACTUALLY WORK there anymore. even the ad sales team doesn’t answer the phone. may be they’re always in reorg meetings.

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  • Envy - November 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm PST

    I like Jerry, I think people give him to much shit, Yahoo is not some shit company, and they are heading in the correct direction. I think 3 or 4 years from now Michael will be praising them

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  • Phil - November 7th, 2008 at 12:47 am PST

    People are being too hard on Yahoo. I since moved over to Google for Adsense and general search. I have taken notice of their improvements however and recently started to use Yahoo Search Marketing, which has proven good results just as Google has. If anything this whole Yahoo-Google-MSFT mess has reminded me that Yahoo exists and is a real company. I have started to use their site a lot more for the personal feel it gives that Google has notoriously never had.

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  • bigben - November 7th, 2008 at 4:05 am PST

    diasgree with Michael and would agree with the comments of Phil, Envy,Pravin, Brian and Ian. Jerry is a great leader. The way he answers the interviewer is truly inspiring. Jerry has been true throughout. Yahoo is innovating a lot . The opening of the Yahoo platform is a great step forward. Its the only way David can fight Goliath.
    Now its not Jerry who is responsible for the downfall of Yahoo. Its media and consumers who are equally responsible as well. Lets join Jerry’s efforts to make a better yahoo. We developers should sign up for Yahoos Developer network and try to come up something exciting in the coming days.

    reply
  • Bob - November 7th, 2008 at 8:53 am PST

    Maybe Michael can be the next Yahoo CEO! I hope yahoo can stay independent and I think it can. I think it needs to connect with e-commerce more and this will help with the advertising. I think it needs to start offering sub-prime mortgages and then securitize them and sell them to fannie mae and freddie mac.

    reply
  • Tony Caporicci - November 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am PST

    Jerry has done a remarkable job implementing Yahoo and had the passion to come back on board. He deserves a lot of credit for that. Yahoo is doing some really cool things lately and Microsoft, Google are technological gurus and still have to sharpen their pencils all the time in lieu of Yahoo. His deal with Microsoft is going to be long lived and he shows some regret in not just signing off on that deal but Yahoo has such a huge technology infrastructure that it still has opportunity to leverage their products to compete. The Yahoo Mobile Network is robust and I agree that developers should sign in to the Yahoo Developer Network and inspire something Web 3.0ish. Yahoo has a ton of data in the cloud…Apple…Yahoo is available!

    reply
  • former yahoo - November 7th, 2008 at 10:21 am PST

    I think what many are missing is the way Google is playing this situation. It was in Google’s best interest to coax Yahoo into a deal and now that Yahoo was relying on it, pull it out from under them. Google wasn’t trying to help Yahoo, they were trying to spite MSFT. For Google it’s mission accomplished. I don’t seem to read very often the role Google has played to ensure that there is not well capitalized competition in search. Google is just as anti-competitive as MSFT has been accused of being in the past. Do no evil….right.

    reply
  • Steve Poppe - November 11th, 2008 at 12:40 pm PST

    Which website has the most traffic, might I ask?

    reply

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