Will Yahoo find a buyer? Bids are due. Yahoo's turnaround strategy could turn into a sell-off strategy starting Monday.
After a tumultuous decade that saw the Internet company lose the battle for search to onetime underdog Google, churn through five chief executives plus an interim CEO, and largely miss out on tech's move to mobile, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company sought "strategic alternatives" this year — industry-speak for a buyer. Bids are due Monday. The long, troubled history of Yahoo's top execs. On Tuesday, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer unveiled a cost-cutting initiative that includes trimming 15% of its workforce.
It's the latest chapter in Yahoo's recent drama, as the company continues to weigh how to handle its Internet businesses amid shareholder scrutiny. Mayer is the latest top executive at Yahoo to struggle with turning around the former Silicon Valley heavyweight. Here's a history of the executives who held Yahoo's top job: Timothy Koogle CEO tenure: 1995-April 30, 2001 Stock price when started: $33 Stock price when left: $20.18. CEO Marissa Mayer gets a chance to make one last stand at the less-than-OK Yahoo Corral. CEO Marissa Mayer’s efforts to save Yahoo (YHOO) are almost assuredly doomed.
That was as true from the start of her tenure as it is now. But for the moment, it appears Mayer may have been underestimated by many of her critics on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. The pressure from external investors leading up to the earnings call yesterday seemed to be building toward an announcement of an outright sale of the company’s business. And there were apparently many on the board who felt the same, according to Re/Code. Instead, Mayer seems to have outflanked them, at least temporarily. Yes, there was acknowledgment that the company would “explore non-strategic asset divestitures” to focus the business and possibly raise a $1 billion (and possibly up to $3 billion) war chest.
That has been widely interpreted as Yahoo saying, “Yep, we’re for sale.” But it’s worth noting that the board could have gone further. And the board could have noted that it hired an advisor to solicit acquisition offers. Yahoo - where did it all go wrong? Image copyright Getty Images During the 90s and early 2000s, Yahoo was a veritable web titan - a leader in email, online news and search.
But the internet media company's fortunes have changed drastically, with sales falling from $7.2bn (£5bn) in 2008 to $4.6bn (£3.1bn) last year. This is partly because Google and Facebook have come to dominate the online advertising market from where Yahoo derives its revenue. A series of chief executives has also failed to stem the decline.
Yahoo to spin-off Alibaba shares as earnings slide. 27 January 2015Last updated at 16:44 ET.
Yahoo to replace Google for search on Firefox. Yahoo Buys Image-Recognition Startup for Flickr. Yahoo to Encrypt All Information Flowing Between Data Centers. Yahoo!
Inc. (YHOO:US) will encrypt all information that flows between its data centers, beefing up security efforts after new reports of spying on digital content by the National Security Agency. The Sunnyvale, California-based company will also let users encrypt data to and from Yahoo by the end of the first quarter of 2014, Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer said in a blog post today. The NSA has tapped fiber-optic cables overseas to siphon data from Yahoo and Google Inc. (GOOG:US), according to an Oct. 30 report in the Washington Post.
Yahoo, owner of the largest U.S. “As we have said before, we will continue to evaluate how we can protect our users’ privacy and their data,” Mayer said in the post. David Pogue On Why He's Joining Yahoo: 'I'm A Giant Vat Of Creative Juices' Yahoo hires Katie Couric as new global news anchor. 25 November 2013Last updated at 13:15 ET Katie Couric will be "the face of Yahoo News", chief executive Marissa Mayer said Internet company Yahoo has hired veteran television correspondent Katie Couric, the company's chief has said.
Ms Couric, a popular broadcaster who formerly hosted the CBS Evening News and co-hosted NBC's Today show, will be a "global anchor", beginning next year. She will cover stories and be the "face of Yahoo News", Marissa Mayer said. Yahoo's growing news operation has hired several high-profile journalists in recent months, including Matt Bai and David Pogue of the New York Times. Yahoo reports another sales drop as ad clicks yield less. Yahoo reported a 5 percent drop in revenue for the third quarter, with the money it makes from display and search ads both continuing to decline.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 was $1.2 billion, down 5 percent from a year earlier, Yahoo said Tuesday. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, revenue was down 1 percent. Its profit for the quarter was $297 million, much lower than last year, when it made a big one-off gain from selling shares in China’s Alibaba Group. On an operations basis, Yahoo’s profit for the quarter was $93 million, a drop of 39 percent. “I’m very pleased with our execution, especially as we’ve continued to invest in and strengthen our core business,” CEO Marissa Mayer said in a statement. Marissa Mayer Biography. How CEO Marissa Mayer turned around Yahoo. Yahoo's chief operating officer in surprise departure.
15 January 2014Last updated at 21:20 ET Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer's recruitment of Mr de Castro from Google was seen as a coup.
Yahoo's chief operating officer has unexpectedly departed the company just over a year after he was hired to turn its advertising business around. Henrique de Castro, Yahoo's second most senior executive, is leaving this week. No reason was given. His departure deals a blow to the firm's efforts to revive flagging sales and internet traffic in the face of increased competition from rival sites. It may also be an expensive loss for chief executive Marissa Mayer. Mr Castro is one of Silicon Valley's most highly-paid executives and may receive a multi-million-dollar severance package. According to reports, there were tensions between Mr Castro and Ms Mayer, who had poached him from Google shortly after she took over at the company.
Yahoo's Comeback Is All Smoke and Mirrors. The appointment of Marissa Mayer as Yahoo CEO has been a godsend for those in the media.
If nothing else, the photogenic, enigmatic and workaholic chief executive has made people interested in the company again. In 2011, Yahoo was never mentioned in the same breath as Google or Facebook. But now, Mayer has propelled the company into the top tier of Internet Companies That Tech Writers Like to Cover. Like investors, the media love a comeback story, and Yahoo seemed to fit the bill: Since Mayer joined the company on July 16, 2012, its stock price has risen 159%.
Marissa Mayer ends Yahoo's work-from-home policy - Feb. 25, 2013. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) The message officially came from human resources head Jackie Reses, whose memo was obtained by tech blog All Things D. "To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side," the memo said. "That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. " To shut down seven products, including Blackberry app. Buying Tumblr Is A No-Brainer For The Yahoo Brand.