Yahoo!'s Project Panama going nowhere?

With Yahoo! Inc.'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) recent management shakeup, will any other big changes be coming soon? The bad taste left in the mouth of many investors over the lavish pay package given to former CEO Terry Semel while Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) was beating up his company and taking all its lunch money is not going away soon. Even more unsettling is the fact that company co-founder Jerry Yang stepped in as CEO over savvy and well-respected Sue Decker (who did ascend to the role of President). All those changes were needed, although it's way too early to see if the new team will be able to rescue Yahoo! from the deep shadow of Google.

Yahoo! EVP Jeff Weiner has been cited in unofficial circles as one of the main people responsible for the slow rollout of Yahoo!'s potential savior, Project Panama. Created specifically to take on Google's auction-style keyword ad placement, Project Panama was launched in semi-glorious fashion late last year but exact details on its performance have been a bit hard to find so far. How is it performing beyond of the platitudes from management we continue to hear? How is the platform contributing to Yahoo!'s bottom line more than the previous Overture keyword system? Inquiring minds need to know.

Project Panama needs to show powerful results in the new quarter or a few more Yahoo! folks could be shown the door. Although Yahoo! is not making ground against Google's search-based advertising leadership, the least Project Panama could do is take the search viewership Yahoo! does have and maximize revenue in a measurable way that shareholders can plainly see. If not, Semel will need to be the first of several pushed out.