Yahoo, once the Cadillac of search engines, continues to lose its mojo. Its most recent site change made a manageable experience much more annoying while not improving anything at all. Yahoo recently fired its brash CEO, Carol Bartz, and the M&A sharks now smell blood. Of course, Yahoo could have taken Microsoft's generous buyout offer a few years ago and lived happily ever after. Incredibly, major Yahoo shareholder Jerry Yang took the advice of its principal competitor, Google, and backed out of the deal. Since then, Google, without having to worry about Microsoft's cash and clout, continues to erode Yahoo's value.
One can only now hope that Yahoo isn't dismembered by its Asian investors and Yahoo's probable private equity partners. It would be a sad end to a once wonderful brand. Also, as a practical matter, the notion of search effectively monopolized by one firm is simply not in the public interest. "Too Big to Fail" is not only relevant in the finance world: it's especially pertinent in Internet communication.
No comments:
Post a Comment