Some Yahoo Employees Fear Layoffs Under New CEO Thompson - WSJ.com
So Yahoo has found a new CEO. Interesting that they have done this before resolving some of the larger strategic questions, linked to the financial questions around the asian assets and PE stakes. This is a PC portal business, which fails to have the portal in the new mobile/social arena. Enough people still think of Yahoo on their PC, but Google/Apple/Facebook have your attention in the mobile space. Technology is very clealry moving beyond the PC, to the many social possibilities of a more connected world. The business impacts seem focused on the hardware so far (iphones, ipads clearly), and more cannibalistic on the sales and advertising $. But more new business models will come, especially as more and more mobile commerce and engagement is unleashed.
In this context, I would have liked to have seen a financial deal, coupled with some definitive plays into the mobile, video and/or social spaces - acquisitions, joint ventures or being bought. Otherwise Scott may be a great guy, but he'll be just managing further decline.
For the sake of the employees, lets hope Scott is empowered to make those decisions, and make them quickly
"A larger problem, some employees say, is that they have to read the media to find out about the strategic direction of their own company. In the four months since the previous CEO, Carol Bartz, was fired and the company embarked on a "strategic review," there seem to have been virtually constant news reports detailing the status of the company's efforts to sell its Asian assets, enter in a partnership with private equity investors, or sell itself outright."
So Yahoo has found a new CEO. Interesting that they have done this before resolving some of the larger strategic questions, linked to the financial questions around the asian assets and PE stakes. This is a PC portal business, which fails to have the portal in the new mobile/social arena. Enough people still think of Yahoo on their PC, but Google/Apple/Facebook have your attention in the mobile space. Technology is very clealry moving beyond the PC, to the many social possibilities of a more connected world. The business impacts seem focused on the hardware so far (iphones, ipads clearly), and more cannibalistic on the sales and advertising $. But more new business models will come, especially as more and more mobile commerce and engagement is unleashed.
In this context, I would have liked to have seen a financial deal, coupled with some definitive plays into the mobile, video and/or social spaces - acquisitions, joint ventures or being bought. Otherwise Scott may be a great guy, but he'll be just managing further decline.
For the sake of the employees, lets hope Scott is empowered to make those decisions, and make them quickly
"A larger problem, some employees say, is that they have to read the media to find out about the strategic direction of their own company. In the four months since the previous CEO, Carol Bartz, was fired and the company embarked on a "strategic review," there seem to have been virtually constant news reports detailing the status of the company's efforts to sell its Asian assets, enter in a partnership with private equity investors, or sell itself outright."
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