1 YAHOO! “"Yahoo!'s Ultimate Business Model: Case Study Production”Michael Featherstone, Jacksonville State University Michael Marker, Jacksonville State University
2 Objectives Provide examples of the array of topics Yahoo engenders.Identify strategies for case development. Identify (lesser known) resources supporting case development.
3 Case Based Learning Case studies are stories. They present realistic, complex, and contextually rich situations and often involve a dilemma, conflict, or problem that one or more of the characters in the case must negotiate. https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/instructionalstrategies/casestudies.html
4 Yahoo! Touches all the Bases!Stake (1995) identifies three types of case studies: Intrinsic - aimed at understanding a particular case because the case itself is of interest … A case may be of interest because it has particular features or because it is ordinary. Instrumental - aimed at providing insight into an issue or problem or to refine a theory. Collective - a number of cases are studies jointly in order to understand a phenomenon Stake, Robert E., “The Art of Case Study Research”, Sage Publications 1995
5 Yahoo!’s Roots Even Yahoo’s Conception is open to argument! Were it’s roots in the rather benign “Fantasy Basketball Team” realm? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v4v55OEZCQ&feature=relatedOR As a “Pornographic Site” resource for Stanford University students?
6 Yahoo Headlines “Yahoo to buy Overture for $1.63 billion: The Web portal says it plans to buy search company Overture Services, a move that's squarely aimed at taking on Google, MSN and other search engine competitors” CNET “Jerry Yang on the Hot Seat: In congressional hearings, the Yahoo! co-founder and CEO addresses questions about the company's role in human-rights violations in China” Bloomberg Business Week “Carol Bartz exclusive: Yahoo ‘f---ed me over’” Fortune “Google’s First Lady Marissa Mayer Jumps Ship to Yahoo,” London Evening Standard “Yahoo Faces Class-Action Suit Over Spam Texts: Judge grants class-action status to certain Sprint cellular customers affected by text messages” WSJ “Revolving door: Yahoo ushers out another CEO” Yahoo News “Yahoo confirms CEO is out after resume scandal” CNN Money “A Yahoo Compare And Contrast: Carol Bartz and Marissa Mayer” Forbes “Marissa Mayer Wants Three More Years to Turn Around Yahoo” WSJ “Yahoo: It’s Just About Quitting Time: Yahoo is bowing to the inevitable by saying it will consider a sale of its core business” WSJ “The Seven Lessons Of Marissa Mayer's Loss Of Command At Yahoo” Forbes “Morning Report: Old Man Yahoo Is Ready To Retire” Forbes “Should Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer be fired?” CNN.COM “Why Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer Must Go: Opinion” THE STREET.COM “Yahoo board flip flops, won't spin off Alibaba stake” Yahoo Finance “Biggest Failed Mergers: Yahoo – Microsoft” Bloomberg Business Week “Can Anyone Save Yahoo?” - Barrons
7 Intrinsic GoTo/Overture AcquisitionIn GoTo was the company that developed a model for monetizing search (it changed it’s name to Overture in 2001) by using a Pay per Click model. It was the model (or very similar to the model) that Google ultimately employed to monetize search. Google realizes 95% of its revenue from these PPC Search ads, referred to as AdWords ($74 billion in 2015). Google launched AdWords in 2000 after failed merger meeting with then Overture CEO Bill Gross. Yahoo acquired Overture in 2003, but failed to utilize the Pay per click search revenue model to any great extent. A move described by former Yahoo President Sue Decker as a failure to “integrate [Overture] fast enough, … we didn’t do that soon enough”. A good resource is the Sue Decker Stanford video and Slate below. [Leadership, Management, Marketing, Strategy, M&A] NOTE: A fine article supporting this is:
8 Intrinsic Failed Microsoft MergerProbably the most well-publicized of Yahoo’s Sale/Merger attempts . “With its eyes fixed steadily on rival Google (GOOG), software giant Microsoft (MSFT) shocked the tech world with a hostile $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo (YHOO) in February. Over the following four months, Yahoo's then-CEO Jerry Yang scrambled to fight off the bid. In early May, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer withdrew a sweetened $47.5 billion offer, opting instead for talks about a more limited partnership. A month later, Ballmer said he was calling off the talks completely …Yang was ultimately replaced by Carol Bartz, formerly CEO of Autodesk.” [Leadership, Strategy, M&A] NOTE: There are some hilarious Youtube videos of Steve Ballmer in a rant about the Yahoo failed merger/acquisition. Students love them.
9 Intrinsic Questionable Tumblr Acquisition LeadershipThe most recent problem is the $1 billion purchase of Tumblr. “Marissa Mayer’s biggest acquisition as Yahoo Inc. chief executive is looking more and more like one of her biggest mistakes. Buried in Yahoo’s fourth-quarter earnings press release Tuesday was this nugget: The company is taking a $4.5 billion charge after revaluing certain assets, including the blogging site Tumblr”. Leadership Merger and Acquisition Strategy
10 Instrumental Revolving Door of Executives“When Mr. Amoroso made the announcement about Yahoo!’s new CEO, he said, The Board of Directors unanimously agreed that Marissa’s unparalleled track record in technology, design, and product execution makes her the right leader for Yahoo! at this time of enormous opportunity.” In her statement to the press soon after being named CEO, Mayer said, “I look forward to working with the company’s dedicated employees to bring innovative products, content, and personalized experiences to users and advertisers all around the world.” Both of these statements, unfortunately, reflect a lot of what is happening in the world of CEO succession. If I had had the opportunity to advise the Yahoo! Board prior to making their decision, I would have said, “Yes, you need a CEO who possesses an unparalleled track record in technology and product execution, but, most importantly, you need a CEO who has demonstrated the capability and experience to motivate, engage and unleash the massive leadership and individual talent that exists at Yahoo!.” The company has damaged the reputations of a succession of CEOs, attracted a string of cut-throat activist hedge funds, and lost ever more ground to rivals such as Facebook and Google.” [Does Leadership Matter?] [Relationship of Board to CEO][Who Determines Strategy?][CEO Succession]
11 Instrumental A Case Study Game. Name the CEO“As long as ??? is in charge, there will be two camps battling for the future of Yahoo: the group that wants to give ??? a chance, and the faction that wants change now. This internal battle will only create more friction and distractions for the company, unless ??? can find a dramatic way to silence the growing chorus of critics. Does Leadership Matter? Relationship of Board to CEO Who Determines Strategy?
12 Instrumental The Shi Tao Incident“For two years, journalist Shi Tao has been confined in a Chinese prison for the contents of an . On Nov. 6, 2007, Yahoo! CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang answered to Congress for his company's role in landing Tao behind bars. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs called on Yang on Nov. 6 to explain what reasons the Chinese government gave when it requested information from Tao's Yahoo (YHOO) account. Yahoo ultimately turned over messages that discussed the government's policy on reporting about the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of Tao was convicted in 2005 of disclosing state secrets and is serving a 10-year sentence. The initial hearings explored the prickly compromises that U.S. Internet companies such as Google (GOOG), Yahoo, and Microsoft (MSFT) have encountered when doing business abroad. To gain access to lucrative foreign markets, these companies agree to abide by local regulations that can run afoul of U.S. laws and principles concerning freedom of speech and universal human rights. ” NOTE: There is interesting supportive video of Jerry Yang testifying before congress at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0v6DpZj5WY Business Ethics International Business Corporate Culture Social Responsibility
13 Collective Yahoo’s Business Model/Strategy Identity Crisis.Yahoo has vacillated between Subscription Services, but gets most of its revenue from Display ads, Mobile ads and Search ads. “Investments in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan are worth about $45 billion. That’s more than the U.S. company’s total $39 billion market value.” “Yahoo's business is currently valued at less than zero by Wall Street, which assigns all of the company's value to Yahoo's Asian investments, including its 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.” Which begs the question “Is Yahoo’s core value really worth $0?” Which begs the question “Should Yahoo really spin off Alibaba?”
14 Collective Yahoo’s Business Model/Strategy Identity Crisis.RE: sale of Yahoo's “core business”, “but even that term belies the dizzying range of things that Yahoo actually does. Is it a search company? A media company? An advertising company?” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/12/03/why-would-anyone-want-to-buy-yahoo In a call with analysts, Ms. Mayer said the restructuring would help Yahoo improve its focus on three key areas: search, communications and digital content. Fast-forward to today, and Bing is no longer lagging behind Yahoo. In fact, what you have is a market where Bing actually covers more than 20 percent of search, compared to Yahoo's 13 percent. Both have been helped, no doubt, by a joint partnership on search. So now we’ve come full circle to the title of this presentation. Maybe Yahoo should emulate Harvard and just get into the business of selling it’s prodigious supply of case studies!
15 Yahoo’s Current PredicamentsFiring Current CEO revives the Executive revolving door. Yet seen as struggling to determine Business Strategy Starboard to Start Proxy Fight to Remove Yahoo’s Board (Today’s WSJ) Becoming the quintessential “troubled Internet pioneer”
16 Extraordinary ResourcesStanford - Slate - When big businesses were small –