Archive: January, 2007

Wired online published a brutal description of bad decisions and misguided management at Yahoo over the past six years. Paralleled against Google’s unprecedented growth, the article paints a picture of corporate indecision and eventual stagnation showing Yahoo as a company in decline. Where Google was able to move quickly based on amazing IT talent, Yahoo deliberated over innovative ideas, debating who had what responsibilities and where they would have them. The five page piece closes on an ominous note stating, “At Yahoo, the marketers rule, and at Google the engineers rule. And for that, Yahoo is finally paying the price.”

In his piece, “How Yahoo Blew It”, Wired Magazine contributing editor Frank Vogelstein appears to assign blame in a number of directions but he focuses much of it directly at Yahoo CEO Terry Semel.

Under Semel’s leadership, Yahoo has missed a number of extraordinary opportunities and has developed turf-driven tensions in the upper management of Yahoo’s various divisions. With a corporate culture of bureaucratic committees, Yahoo was unable to keep up with Google on the search front. Trying to merge Overture’s PPC results into Inktomi’s organic search results proved more difficult than expected, likely because Overture and Yahoo executives were often working at cross purposes or in competition with each other. Yahoo has also mismanaged other initiatives such as the Hollywood based Yahoo Entertainment division established by Lloyd Braun.