Yahoo!'s Project Panama going nowhere? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After yesterday's no-surprise announcement that Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Terry Semel would resign his post and take the role of non-executive chairman, I was confused as to why Semel even wants to stay with Yahoo!

Semel already has gotten a huge payday, so it looks like he's sticking around so the board can save face, which is disgusting. Yet again, executives are rewarded while shareholders get stiffed. I'm glad I don't own Yahoo or I would have Semel's head on a platter.

Still, you have to wonder what in the world is going on in Sunnyvale. Company co-founder Jerry Yang is stepping in as CEO (for some odd reason) instead of seasoned executive Susan Decker, who is taking over as president, thankfully.

Yahoo! will never regain its former glory.

Continue reading Yahoo! won't be able to catch Google, even with a new CEO

Yahoo! won't be able to catch Google, even with a new CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

2001 was a long, long time ago. In the ever-evolving world of technology, six years can be measured in dog-years: one dog year equals seven human years. Terry Semel rode in to Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) as the savior, the professional manager who would move this absolutely cool company to the next level. The space was evolving and revolving in a huge way. Nobody could even put a bona-fide growth rate on the internet search/ marketing/advertising/communication field. Semel thought he had entered a marathon.

In 2001, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) was only three years old, as the company was founded in 1998. The secrecy surrounding Google was legendary, yet weird. Google was formidable, but it was also private. Numbers were never confirmed, but people in the know whispered Google was catching Yahoo and knocking it from its premier position. Google was gathering headlines and believers while Yahoo! was reporting good, not great, or consistent quarterly numbers. The technology media and its close-followers knew Google was catching Yahoo!, it was only a matter of time.

The world realized in 2004 that Google was also running a marathon, but with a sprinter's speed. Google completed its initial public offering in August 2004 and was crowned the winner: game, set and match. Immediately, the market propelled Google to a market capitalization that has surpassed Yahoo!'s. As of this writing, Yahoo! is a faint figure in Google's rear view mirror. Google is worth $160 billion while Yahoo! is a respectable $37 billion.

Continue reading Yahoo's Terry Semel got Googled!

Yahoo's Terry Semel got Googled! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So ... Was CEO Terry Semel really so bad that he had to resign?

In a word, yes.

In my opinion, Terry Semel needed to be shown the door long ago and should have made a quiet, respectful and pride-saving exit from Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). I'm not happy with the way his resignation is now being handled either. He should be moving down the road to new and exciting endeavors, leaving Yahoo! to formulate its own new plans. Instead, he has gingerly stayed in his chairman role, in a non-executive role, hanging around like the brother-in-law who just wrecked your car and says he'll help you fix it.

Don't take my word for it, though. A flood of commentary from all across the web includes such things as:

"...it's safe to say, (the share holders) are not happy at all with the current performance and are sending a message loud and clear, Terry Semel's got to turn things around" - RSS Micro

Continue reading Was CEO Terry Semel really so bad that he had to resign?

Was CEO Terry Semel really so bad that he had to resign? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Glad I'm not a Yahoo!

Glad I'm not a Yahoo! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: The faces of Yahoo

Susan Decker passed over for Yahoo! CEO role: Always the bridesmaid originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ; YHOO), which today replaced Terry Semel as chief executive with co-founder Jerry Yang, may be dragged into the battle royale for Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ).

Billionaire Ron Burkle, who the unions have enlisted to save them from the evil clutches of News Corp (NYSE:NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, is trying to convinced the Internet giant to join him in a bid for the owner of the Wall Street Journal, according to Fortune.

Why the unions think the Burkle is a such a good guy is a little baffling. The supermarket mogul won't get many Christmas cards from shareholders since, as a member of Yahoo's compensation committee, he helped Semel get his outrageous $70 million pay package.

Yahoo should tell Burkle to take a hike. The company's whole strategy has been based on the fact that it DOESN'T NEED TO OWN CONTENT. Executives have made this point to me in person. They've made this point to other journalists. They've made this point to Wall Street analysts. Most importantly, though, Yahoo has made this point to content providers who are nervous about the small amount of original content that the company does produce.

Joining the bidding war for Dow Jones makes no sense for Yahoo. The company has plenty of problems of its own, including how to diplomatically shove Semel out of the door. The theory is that he can do less damage as chairman, until he's given the chance to make a graceful exit, while Jerry Yang gets his feet wet as chief executive.

Susan Decker, who gained kudos on Wall Street during her tenure as CFO, would have made a better choice. She has become president and it wouldn't surprise me if she eventually left the company as well.

Yang has a tough road ahead to convince both Internet users and investors enamored of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) that Yahoo still is relevant.

Yahoo should avoid Dow Jones buyout battle as it fixes company originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Finally, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has ditched its CEO Terry Semel, according to MarketWatch. And the new CEO is Jerry Yang, a co-founder of the company. Former CFO, Susan Decker was named president, positioning her for a chance to take over the top slot.

It is beyond me why Semel held onto his job for so long. He helped stabilize Yahoo after the dot-com crash but has stumbled from one incompetent quarter to the next for years. And he has taken home some truly outrageous pay -- a total of $452 million in salary, bonus and stock-option exercises since April 2001 [subscription] -- during which time Yahoo stock has risen four-fold.

However, in the last year the disconnect between Semel's pay and Yahoo's performance became too much to take. According to the New York Times, his total 2006 pay was $107.5 million during which time Yahoo's stock fell 35%. And directors concluded Yahoo was just not catching up fast enough with Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) so Semel had to go.

Susan Decker had been positioned to take over the company as CEO. But Yahoo's board probably decided that she was not yet ready. However, she is considered to have the inside track during the CEO search to replace Semel. So Yang's appointment could be just a temporary move that will help stabilize the company until she is ready.

Or, with the stock up 8% to $29.62 in after-hours trading, he might just sell it. It would make a nice morsel for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.

[See our live blog of the web cast in which Terry Semel discusses his resignation here.]

Yahoo dumps Semel. What took so long? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Semel resigning - Liveblogging the webcast

Yahoo! CEO Semel resigning - Liveblogging the webcast originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo!'s exec shuffle: What will it accomplish? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 14:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When will Semel be out and Decker in as Yahoo! CEO? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo has clearly lost advertising market share to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Google's share has risen to 45.4% in the United States in October from 39% a year earlier, while Yahoo's market share fell to 28.2% from 29.2%. It's also clear that Yahoo's stock has tumbled 30% this year while Google's has gained 17%.

What's murky to me is how this reorganization will help Yahoo reverse its loss in market share. But the departure of former ABC executive Lloyd Braun -- whose namesake was featured in Seinfeld as an aide to former New York City mayor David Dinkins who had a nervous breakdown -- ends Hollywood's efforts to colonize Silicon Valley's Yahoo. This also suggests that 64-year-old CEO Terry Semel's departure is imminent within the year.

Continue reading What the Yahoo reorg means for investors

What the Yahoo reorg means for investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! gets reorg, Rosensweig out, Susan Decker gets blessed originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.