Internet Outsider: Yahoo The Fossilized Old Media Company

Yahoo The Fossilized Old Media Company

Please read this depressing take on the ossification of Yahoo! Finance from Jeremy Zawodny, who used to work in the division and still works at the company. Kudos to Yahoo for letting Zawodny be depressed about his employer in public--this alone suggests that there is still life somewhere in the company. But shame on Yahoo! for letting the fire die.

One expects to hear stories like Zawodny's when talking to employees of Time Warner, Viacom, and other fat, happy dinosaurs. But Yahoo!? Forgive me, a shareholder, for hallucinating that somewhere in one of my favorite companies there were managers and employees who still wanted to win.

It is way, way too early for Internet oligarchs like Yahoo to hit cruise control. Google exists because senior management at Yahoo! took their eyes off the search ball--the core competency that transformed the tiny start-up into a global behemoth. And now it appears that despite this disaster Yahoo! has taken its eyes off another core cash generation machine: Finance. And once again, Google has found the abandoned treasure.

I hear tales from within Yahoo! of chagrin that the company fumbled away $100 billion in market cap by blowing its search lead. I must confess I was hoping that this chagrin would serve as a kick in the ass--a stark lesson in what happens when you get rich, arrogant, and distracted. Given Zawodny's description of the pathetic inertia that has infected Finance over the last few years, however, I wonder.

Perhaps the enormous success the company achieved in its first five years has infiltrated its DNA. Perhaps the first thing every Yahoo thinks when he or she wakes up every morning is "I am a Yahoo! I am rich, brilliant, and cool. Now, where shall I have today's four-hour lunch?" Perhaps what motivates Yahoos these days is dreams of more visits from such inspirational business leaders as Tom Cruise ("My manager told me that next year Terry's working on Tom Hanks!"). Perhaps the secret fantasy of many Yahoos is that, someday, they'll finally be cool enough to be invited to the Oscars.

[Note to Yahoo!: Larry and Sergey could buy the Oscars, along with every dime-a-dozen studio and production company in town.]

Well, wake up Yahoo! You're only 12 years old. Take the armchair-rockers off the porch and get back in the fight.

UPDATE

Jeremy responds (as I hoped he or someone else might) and says that the Finance woes should not be extrapolated to the whole company. I'm relieved, I guess, although I'd still like to see some evidence of Jack Welch-style butt-kicking, at least within Yahoo! Finance.

Posted by Henry Blodget on March 23, 2006 at 11:52 AM | Permalink

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» The Flip Side from Jeremy Zawodny's blog
I knew it would happen. Someone would latch onto my story about Yahoo! Finance and extrapolate to the whole company. It's human nature. Henry Blodget writes, among other things, the following: Perhaps the enormous success the company achieved in its fi... [Read More]

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March 23, 2006

Yahoo The Fossilized Old Media Company

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