Gawker
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yahoo
Jerry Yang Saves His Company
Carol Bartz may have replaced Yahoo founder Jerry Yang as the troubled Web giant's CEO. But he's still on the payroll and the board of directors. And Yahoo could use help. Just not from him! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by TrilbyCharybdis: is that Rod Blagojevich in the green baseball hat (over to the right?) more » | Other threads
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sue decker
Yahoo's Depressing Backup Plan
No one wants to buy Yahoo. And the only person who wants to run Yahoo is an insider who helped sink it. Is there any hope left for the beleaguered Web giant? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Beautiful Stranger: Yahoo's impending demise raises an interesting issue which I am sure will delight us all (or at least those of... 7 Responses | Other threads
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yahoo
Yahoo's Holiday Bonus: A Lawsuit Settled
If you thought Google's "dogfood" holiday gift was chintzy, check out what Yahoo employees got: $50. To donate to charity. Some others, though, are stuffing their stockings with a $10 million legal settlement.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Lucille van Pelt: I agree, it's kind of silly that they were given money to donate to charity. but come on, bonuses are... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Yahoo Layoffs
Laid-off Yahoos packing heat for Jerry Yang?
Yahoo had set plans for a holiday party in L.A. right after Wednesday's mass layoffs — and it invited the victims. But just in case any were armed, Jerry Yang's guards set up metal detectors.
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By Owen ThomasComment by jangregory: The more I read these so-called first hand accounts, the more I feel that they're either totally fabricated stories, or... 5 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
The craziest Yahoo layoff stories
Did you hear Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang had his house lined with Kevlar before he laid off 1,500 employees? No idea if that's true, but that's the best rumor I heard all week.
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By Owen ThomasComment by BambalinaCoronus: Reading gripes from bitter layoffs victims is so boring. It's like listening to someone whose going through a divorce trash... 4 Responses | Other threads
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Yahoo Layoffs
Jerry Yang's incompetent layoff memo
Yahoo has a strict set of rules to follow in layoffs: No small talk. Get to the point. Don't own the employee's feelings. Did Jerry Yang, the stumbling Internet company's cloddish founder-CEO, follow them in his latest all-hands memo?
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By Owen ThomasComment by YahooDame: Jerry never capitalizes his words, that's just his style even if it was a happy announcement. And he's an emotional... 4 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
A guide to Yahoo's mass layoff
Yahoo hasn't been able to do anything right lately. Why should Wednesday's job cuts be any different?
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShrigauriPelican: I work at the Y!. There has been no directive that I've received about being in by 9 AM or... 5 Responses | Other threads
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party report
Yahoo's last hurrah
Canceling year-end parties is a hot holiday trend. But Yahoo executives, even as they prepared to put 1,500 employees on the street this week, greenlighted a bash for the troubled Web giant which took place Saturday. The theme: gambling. Appropriate!
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By Owen ThomasComment by Forest4theTrees: I never liked to "yahoo." "Googling" slips right off the tongue. 3 Responses | Other threads
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Mike Murdock
Disabled vet nominates self for Yahoo CEO
How sad that no one convincing has stepped up to run Yahoo! Pursued then spurned by Microsoft, the company is looking to replace founder Jerry Yang. Mike Murdock, a disabled Navy veteran, has raised his hand. The name sounded familiar.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Churchill: Hire em'. He can't be worse than Yang. That's humanely impossible!! 2 Responses | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google CEO pulled over for driving with a cell phone
No man is above the law — not even multibillionaire Google CEO Eric Schmidt. At least that's what we hear from a well-placed tipster, who says Schmidt recently confessed to having been pulled over by the cops last month in Los Angeles for talking on his cell phone while driving. (California law recently changed to require the use of a headset.) Oh, but it gets worse for Schmidt. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by MissVolare: Don't dial & drive: like the CHP needs more crap laws, besides "driving while minority," to enforce. I've started asking... 6 Responses | Other threads
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exits
Is Yahoo done with search?
Among the many windmills Jerry Yang tilted at in his brief career as Yahoo's CEO was his devotion to Web search. It veered on an obsession for him. It played into his decision to resist Microsoft's offers to shower him with cash, first for his whole company, then for just its search business. Is it a coincidence, then, that Yahoo's top search engineer has left a day after Yang stepped down? A tipster tells us Sean Suchter resigned yesterday, and speculates that he may be joining Microsoft. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by CurtisHippomedon: Am I to believe Yahoo doesn't have an iron clad NDA with its employees preventing them for working for the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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commenter of the day
mew
For better or worse, Yahoo now doesn't have a leader. At least the market thinks that's a good thing and Yahoo shareholders got rewarded with a $1.3 billion bump. Today's featured commenter, mew, has a different idea about Jerry Yang leaving: More »
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Comment by SeanPara: 'Convince = Incentive at his level.'Are you hinting at Jerry getting job offer from Obama that Eric turned down? more » | Other threads
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caption contest
Jerry Yang explains Internet to Best Buy employees
Now that he's stepping down as Yahoo's CEO, will Jerry Yang ever take a public stage again, as he did at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January? Suggest an appropriately elegiacal caption in the comments; the best will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: ShreeCeto, for "Hey Jason! What's going on with your valuation?" (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)
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By Owen ThomasComment by godospoons: Yang Explains Internet to Best Buy Employees, Fails 2 Responses | Other threads
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stocks
What's Jerry Yang worth to Yahoo? $1.3 billion
Yesterday, Yahoo was worth $14.7 billion. Today, it's worth $16 billion. Why the boost? Stock traders bid up Yahoo's stock after CEO Jerry Yang's surprise ouster — partly out of speculation that Microsoft might make a new bid for the company with Yang out of the picture, and partly, we think, out of sheer relief.
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By Owen ThomasComment by fakemichaelarrington: I think you mean "-1.3 Billion" Plays much better. 1 Responses | Other threads
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yahoo
Yang's resignation post returns error 999
Can it get any dumber? Jerry Yang's post on Yahoo's corporate blog, "Stepping down," is throwing me an error message that suggests Yahoo has banned the IP address of my Sprint wireless Internet card, but only for their corporate blog. And yet the post is visible on the blog's homepage. It seems too bad to be true: Yang can't even say goodbye right. Update: The "999" error indicates that the server automatically throttled itself to prevent a surge in traffic from taking the site down. Yang's resignation blog post had made the front page of Digg, the news-discussion site. What does it say about Yahoo's competence at building reliable websites if Digg can take down the boss's blog? -
stocks
Why founders win
Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like to talk about their hopes of "changing the world." Yes, of course: Changing the world from one in which they are poor to one in which they are fabulously wealthy. The question in the air is whether the founders of companies do a better job at creating wealth, for themselves and their investors, than professional managers. With Yahoo announcing Jerry Yang's plans to step down as CEO, it would seem like a losing time for founders. But Yang is an exceptional case; he took his hands off the steering wheel when Yahoo had a mere five employees, and never really ran anything until he stepped in as CEO last June. Most founders of successful startups eagerly seize power, and have to be forcibly dislodged from the driver's seat. The best never let go. Just take a long-term look at the stock market, and you'll see why. More » -
exits
Jerry Yang and the myth of the founder
It is one of the most heartwarming narratives of Silicon Valley — the founder is abused and evicted by the suits and then returns triumphant. But that's not how it worked out for Jerry Yang, ousted as Yahoo's CEO Monday by a suddenly restive board. Until yesterday, Yang was never much abused by Yahoo's suits; if anything, he was coddled for more than a decade, granted the honorific of "Chief Yahoo" and allowed a say in the Internet portal's strategy. He held a seat on the company's board, and played a role in courting executives like former CEO Terry Semel; but until last year, he never had to operate a business. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by macbeach: I could be wrong, but I don't think people with many millions of dollars in assets lose sleep over losing... 1 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in journalism
Best Jerry Yang resignation headline
The Associated Press does it again. "Yahoo's Yang decides he's no longer the right CEO." That's gotta be a fun job, coming up with the dryly sarcastic headlines. But you gotta be careful with those, because unwitting Web surfers who don't get the jokes-inside-jokes voice of the Internet might actually think you're reporting that Jerry Yang made the decision.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Spy from the Land of Rainpeople: At AP there's no need to think, just report. And the only feedback they are taking from their customers (readers)... more » | Other threads
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cubicle culture
Yahoos quietly cheer Yang's exit
In an attempt to boost morale at Yahoo, signs showing CEO Jerry Yang with cofounder David Filo went up around the Web giant's Sunnyvale campus recently. They had no measurable effect. News of Yang's resignation, pending a replacement, might do more to cheer up the troops. The signs have proved easily edited to accommodate the news. (Photo by docwho76)
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By Owen ThomasComment by Widget Economist: Michael Arrington on deck for next CEO. more » | Other threads
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exits
5 reasons why Jerry Yang is done at Yahoo
Why is Yahoo looking for a new CEO? Because founder Jerry Yang, in his year and a half on the job, has proven himself incapable of meeting the company's many challenges. Here are five key moments where Yang failed to rise to the occasion: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Rock tha Hizzee: I'm guess you wrote this four months ago and just had to click "publish." 3 Responses | Other threads
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yahoo
Jerry Yang's goodbye letter to Yahoo
How untidy was Jerry Yang's exit from the CEO seat at Yahoo? Here's a clue: Tech blog AllThingsD obtained a copy of Yang's all-hands memo before the PR team had sent it to the staff. It must be genuine, since, like the rest of Yang's memos, it completely lacks capitalization. The founders of Internet companies are too busy, it seems, to reach for the shift key. What Yang does not explain: Why, when he took over as CEO last year, he took pains to say this was not a temporary job. His excuse seems to amount to this: The changes he has made at Yahoo are so amazing, so transformative, that it is a "significantly different company" today which requires someone who can "manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point." Translation: Jerry Yang was the right man to be Yahoo's CEO, until he wasn't. The memo: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Baroness: Bye, you rich dick. Stop abusing the English language now. Your lack of common captilization bespeaks a... 2 Responses | Other threads
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exits
Jerry Yang out as Yahoo CEO
Yahoo founder Jerry Yang is stepping down as CEO, and a search is underway for a replacement after a tumultuous 18 months on the job. Which is curious. In a recent interview, Yang had just told AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, "In this uncertain environment, I think I am absolutely the right person" to lead Yahoo. He must have changed his mind; Swisher reports that the decision was a "mutual" one made by Yang and Yahoo's board of directors. Either Yang was lying to Swisher, or he was deceived about the board's lack of support for him. Executive recruiter Heidrick & Struggles is conducting a search for Yang's replacement. Finding a successor to Yang will be difficult — not because Yang is irreplaceable, but because he has made such a mess of things that it will be hard to persuade a capable executive to risk their reputation fixing it. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by bittergreen: Jerry Yang reminds me of William Hung. 2 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
"We can see Google from our campus!"
Is Jerry Yang the Barack Obama of Yahoo? Most employees at the flailing Web giant associate their fearless leader with hopelessness, not hope. The person who created these fliers, featuring Yang and cofounder David Filo, is either a wickedly vicious satirist, or a hapless true believer. Can you suggest a better caption in the comments? The best one will become the post's new headline. Yesterday's winner: trisomy21, for "But I need the Mac to find Cyprus on a map!" (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)
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By Owen ThomasComment by achates: There's still a lot of affection and respect for Jerry and David at Yahoo!, regardless of what VW may think.... 6 Responses | Other threads
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layoffs
Yahoo employee turns to bad poetry
What's the only thing worse than another "Open Letter to Jerry Yang?" A freaking poem to Jerry Yang. Shakespeare was so much better at this, plus he didn't put his vanity site's URL in the final stanza. More » -
rumormonger
Yahoos, stock traders wish Jerry Yang rumor were true
When will Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang figure out that everyone wants him to leave? Matt Marshall at VentureBeat aired a rumor that a memo had gone out at 8 a.m. to Yahoo's workforce to expect some kind of "historic announcement" later today — a coded way of saying Yang was on his way out. Marshall wondered if it was true, or just an attempt to manipulate Yahoo's stock price. We called some Yahoos we know, and, alas, no such email exists. Even debunked, the rumor is telling: Sentiment against Yang is so strong that people are willing to believe a rumor he's leaving. (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)
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By Owen ThomasComment by your creepy uncle: I hate to say it, but I'm thinking about buying Yahoo. You're telling me all those market-leading properties aren't worth... more » | Other threads
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cutbacks
Yahoo purple with rage over lunch price hike
Yahoo has spent millions on consulting fees with Bain & Co. to come up with cost-cutting schemes — bold ones like hiking cafeteria prices. A tipster blames President Sue Decker and CFO Blake Jorgensen for upping his lunch bill by three bucks: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by PeggyRhesus: does Yahoo really pay for Sue Decker to be driven to work in a private car more » | Other threads
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Fright Masks
The 5 scariest people in Silicon Valley
Halloween's on a Friday. With people already more worried about keeping their jobs than actually doing them, you might as well plan on writing the workday off. Trying to figure out a clever costume in which to pester your remaining coworkers? Valleywag has done the work for you. Print up one of these masks, designed by Valleywag interim creative director Richard Blakeley, on the finest-quality office paper you can steal from the supply closet, follow our tips on how to act the part, and you're good to go. Select from our list: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by cv: Your list sucks. Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP Tom Perkins, 'nuff said Katie Cotton, Apple PR exec... 7 Responses | Other threads
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Fright Masks
Jerry Yang, Yahoo's undead CEO
How to wear it: Polo shirt, khakis, and a golf club. More » -
politics
Valley homophobes still drafting Yes on Prop 8 response ad
BoomTown reporter Kara Swisher rappelled from a skylight at Jerry Yang's secret hideout to score this draft copy of an ad, in which a bunch of tech bigwigs come out in favor of gay marriage — or at least in opposition to Proposition 8, a California state ballot initiative which would ban it. No Valley company in its right mind would be seen opposing gay marriage, so why bother? More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Apel Mjausson: Implying that people are homophobic based on a draft of an ad is skating on very thin ice. There are... 2 Responses | Other threads
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quotable
Mark Cuban on Jerry Yang: "Too nice"
Of all the people corporate raider Carl Icahn nominated for Yahoo's board, Mark Cuban, the loudmouthed Internet entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks owner is the guy we wished had made it. If only for the boardroom theatrics with milquetoast Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang. Take Cuban's latest comments to Bloomberg: "Jerry's too nice a guy. He cares too much. They've got a lot of avenues they could take but all of them depend on being a lot meaner and a lot more aggressive and that's just not their style." Cuban should know: He took Yang for $6 billion during the dotcom bubble by selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo, then made sure to collar his shares so they kept their value while Yang's fortune plunged. Never heard of Broadcast.com? Exactly Cuban's point.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Arnaud H: @dotbombing: 99.9%? Let me reassure you: the best broadcast.com people made it to Yahoo! after the acquisition... and most of... 1 Responses | Other threads
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sarah lacy
The enemy within Yahoo
Sarah Lacy works at Yahoo. Sort of. As the anchor of Yahoo Finance's Tech Ticker show, Lacy is a contractor, an employment status which already makes her a second-class citizen on the Yahoo campus. But Yahoo's ostracism of its Web-video star goes further. She's not listed in Yahoo's electronic directory, and her badge doesn't admit her anywhere on campus. Jerry Yang, Yahoo's nervous-nelly CEO, seems afraid that the longtime Valley reporter might stumble across his secret layoff plans. What his ban has really accomplished: Obstructing floral deliveries.
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By Owen ThomasComment by SaparnaAmphinomus: What does Yahoo need in a new CEO? They need someone who is a business and technology person. They also... more » | Other threads
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politics
Apple, Google oppose gay marriage ban, while Yahoo stays silent
Google crossdresser-in-chief Sergey Brin got his company, after contentious internal debate, to express opposition to Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative which would ban the same-sex marriages rendered legal earlier this year by the state's Supreme Court. Now Apple, too, has expressed its corporate views, donating $100,000 to the No on Prop 8 campaign. Who hasn't weighed in? Yahoo. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Ted Dziuba: Why the disclosure? You can't exactly short Prop 8's stock. 2 Responses | Other threads
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yahoo
Jerry Yang's unpurple prose
Right now, a leader needs to do two things: Communicate clearly, act decisively, and project confidence. That's three things, but Jerry Yang can't even do one of them. In a two-part interview with Kara Swisher, Rupert Murdoch's pet eyeball-poker, Yang fails to sell, or even tell, Yahoo's story: More » -
Layoff Memos
Jerry Yang's no-layoffs-yet layoff memo
As mysterious to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang as the location of his keyboard's shift key is the trick to communicating layoffs. Jerry, you should deliver them the way Steve Jobs unveils the latest Apple products: All at once, and tell the audience they can get them now. Instead, in his latest no-caps memo, Yang informs Yahoo employees that 1,400 of them will lose their jobs, but they won't find out any details for "several weeks." Jerry, you're doing it wrong. Here's Yang's latest botched communication to his staff: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by nirreskeya: Maybe Jerry thinks he's the reincarnation of E. E. Cummings. 3 Responses | Other threads
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cutbacks
What Jerry Yang's really slashing: Yahoo salaries
Is Yahoo cutting 3,000 jobs? 3,500 jobs? 1,500 jobs? Fifteen percent of its operating budgets? We're going with "none of the above." What Yahoo management is really tackling are Yahoo's out-of-control salaries and titles. Yahoo, an insider tells us, has relatively narrow pay bands for specific job titles. That means the best way to keep someone getting wooed by Google or a startup is to promote them. During the Microsoft takeover battle, Yahoo liberally tossed around raises to keep people, a source who tried to recruit people away from yahoo tells us. Add to that Yahoo's epic turnover, which has led to many battlefield promotions. The result: Yahoo has VPs who ought to be directors, directors who ought to be managers, and managers who shouldn't be, period. So what's the answer? A "hard reset," our source tells us — a massive bloodletting that will purge Yahoo of the overpaid and overtitled.
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By Owen ThomasComment by kfury: Here's an interesting exercise in job-title comparisons: How many directors of user experience does Yahoo! have? How many does Google... 4 Responses | Other threads
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gordon crawford
Yang-hater now owns 10 percent of Yahoo
Capital Research Global Investors now owns a 10.1 percent stake in Yahoo, according to a new SEC filing. Even Silicon Alley Insider is stumped as to why Capital Research chief Gordon Crawford, who fought to get rid of Yang last year, would be buying more YHOO. I go with Owen's theory: It's simple dollar cost averaging. When Yahoo falls to $13, buy it. Regardless of who's in charge. (Photo by AP/Douglas C. Pizac)
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By Paul BoutinComment by deluxe2000plus: 10%? So what? ... Valleywag news get crappier from day to day... and, yes buy Yahoo stocks! It will go... more » | Other threads
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yahoo
Sue Decker's third coup d'etat
A tipster tells us Yahoo's upcoming layoffs could come in just a week. Among the people with their jobs on the line: CEO Jerry Yang. Sue Decker, Yahoo's scheming president, is hoping to oust him sooner rather than later, especially if pressure from Wall Street after Yahoo's surely dismal third-quarter earnings, set to be announced on the 21st, give her the excuse. Decker, formerly Yahoo's CFO, has been peddling her seat on the board of Berkshire Hathaway to convince fund managers that she has Warren Buffett's backing. If she pulls it off, it will be the third time Decker has knifed a colleague on her way to the top. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RaphaelBurdick: As a former Overture/Yahoo! employee I can say with confidence - Sue only cares about herself; not the products, the... more » | Other threads
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yahoo
Jerry Yang in New York talking AOL deal
The much-talked-about talks between Yahoo and Time Warner to unload AOL? They're definitely on, says a tipster, who also claims Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker are in New York trying to cajole Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes into a deal before Yahoo announces third-quarter earnings later this month. Any Manhattan stargazers care to keep an eye out for him? Update: Kara Swisher now reports Yang has been in New York recently, but not, as our tipster claims, this week She also has lots and lots and lots of speculation about who will run a merged AOL-Yahoo.
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By Owen ThomasComment by jasondupree: Maybe Time Warner will buy Yahoo is a wierd turn of events. 1 Responses | Other threads
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yahoo
Mad Men's Don Draper lends dated persuasion to Yahoo's ad platform pitch
Adding some actual potency to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and president Sue Decker's pitch to Madison Avenue this morning: Jon Hamm, star of AMC's weekly ode to the world of 1960's ad guys, Mad Men. Yang and Decker were likely hoping Hamm's shine would rub off on them, just by having him in the room this morning to deliver lines like "what my friend Jerry Yang is about to share with you will rock the advertising world in the same way that radio and television did way back when." More » -
breaking
Jerry Yang: Yahoo hiring Bain to cut costs
When all else fails, bring in more management consultants. We just got a copy of a memo Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang emailed employees yesterday: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sparkyl: actively looking for ways to make process and structural changes to our business that will allow us to work more... 1 Responses | Other threads
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