yahoo

Yahoo Continues To Commit Suicie

by

Apparently they’re laying off a research team that others want to snatch up.

Now I could go on a usual rant, but let me just note the takeaways here:

  • Don’t send a resume to Yahoo, it’s clear they’re not a good choice.
  • If Yahoo keeps shedding/loosing people it may make employment slightly harder as people snatch up their talent.
  • This tells me they’re giving up on innovation for now – paired with their lawsuit it makes me honestly suspicious they’re looking at some kind of litigation/licensing model.
  • When Yahoo finally implodes one way or another, watch for the reaction.

– Steven Savage

Really. Yahoo is suing Facebook

by

No, I’m not kidding.  I’d heard rumors of this coming, but there you go.

It seems incredibly obvious with the timing (and past history) that this is an attempt to get a settlement out of Facebook to give them some cash.  However reactions I’ve seen across the net are mostly “what a load.”

For Facebook, well, they’ll weather this (they have other problems).  For Yahoo this looks incredibly pathetic (and a repeat of their suit against Google), and breaks a kind of unwritten rule among web companies of “don’t sue over this.”  They’re going to loose a lot of sympathy over this.

Also, frankly, the patents don’t seem to be very defendable because they’re rather general (though the linked analysis seems a bit off) and look like the kind of things Yahoo could sue enormous amounts of companies over.  Some good lawyers could probably take this thing apart fast.

This is humiliating for Yahoo, and smells of desperation to me – they’re resorting to patent trolling.  Sure they might win – or they might get smashed while everyone else looks on and applauds.  But they’re making a lot of people angry.

If they’re resorting to this level of action to raise money, I’m going to say take Yahoo OFF your to-work for list.  I think they may be in worse trouble than we thought.

– Steven Savage

– Steven Savage

3/6/2012: Yahoo Layoffs Coming?

by

I’ve been hearing about this story since yesterday: Yahoo is looking at some large layoffs.

Now this won’t surprise anyone because we’ve been waiting for this (while a lesser amount of us have been waiting for them to turn the corner).   Everything I’ve heard suggests a lot of non-tech cuts, dropping some products and lines (which will mean tech cuts) and general structure and focus work.  Considering the hiring of Boston Consulting Group, I’m not surprised.

Takeaways:

  • Duh.
  • This is probably Yahoo’s last chance to get it right.  However they aren’t ditching or selling themselves off, so there’s some plan there, or the vague illusion of one.
  • This may be a slight blow to Silicon Valley, which hasn’t always done well adsorbing layoffs in tough times, but I don’t expect it to be too bad.
  • Yahoo has got to get this right or give up.  Whatever this is, it’s the last chance before just being bought or selling themselves off in pieces.
  • After the layoffs I expect a small uptick in hiring as they replace people they didn’t need to get rid of.  This has the smell of a “more than we need” chance to me.
  • Frankly, I wouldn’t work at Yahoo unless you’re playing contrarian.  I’m not confident enough in their opportunities.
  • Morale at Yahoo has got to be TERRIBLE.

– Steven Savage