A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
Unfortunately for Yahoo, Barack Obama's otherwise engaged.
As headhunters from Heidrick & Struggles scroll through the available A-listers for Yahoo's next CEO, they might be excused for secretly wishing John McCain had won the election.
That's because after all this company has gone through, it is going to take some sort of superstar to rally the troops now that Jerry Yang is returning to his former role of "chief Yahoo."
Truth be told, you should be happy for Yang. He no longer has to suffer the indignity of playing the role of human pinata. I never thought Yang was the right guy for the job, but give him credit for taking on a tough job. After Terry Semel's ouster, Yang did his best to revive a company he helped found and obviously still loves. Can't fault him for giving it a shot. Unfortunately, Yahoo's brain-dead board of directors took way too long to realize that it was a bad match almost from the get-go. But that's another story.
After the on-again, off-again Microsoft novella, the final straw was Google's decision to bow out of a pending ad pact. That agreement was supposed to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Before barreling ahead, however, the board might have considered whether the Justice Department would try and block that combination.
Yang's subsequent uninspiring public performance at the Web 2.0 conference only reinforced the impression that he was in over his head. Rightly or not, Yang was then variously described as "a train wreck, self-delusional, and as making a mockery of the vaunted company he helped create."
That's now all in the past. Yahoo's pressing challenge now is to find somebody who can rally employees to make one last, best effort to get it right. Talk all you want about Yahoo being a basket case, but that ignores the reality on the ground. Yahoo remains a company with some 500 million users and that's quite a coveted franchise. And if the economy would give everyone a break, several of Yahoo's announced initiatives might actually bear fruit. (And who knows? Public bluster notwithstanding, Steve Ballmer may yet take another run at Yahoo.)
Sure, a real superstar would make a big difference, but Yahoo does not need a miracle worker. It does need someone with passion, vision and managerial chops. Lots of names have been bruited about as possible successors-thankfully, Mark Cuban is otherwise engaged-and I can't say who has the inside track.
This much I do know. After a lost decade in which Yang, Semel and Tim Koogle marched the company around in circles, CEO competence has to be more than a throw-away line on a potential resume.
The board doesn't have the luxury of blowing it again.
No pressure. (Right.)
See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yahoo's ultimate search: A new CEO
• Yang's travails: A Yahoo timeline
• Jerry Yang memo to staff about stepping down
• Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 
JUST LOOK AT THE STORIES THEY HAD ON THEIR FRONT PAGES DURING THE LAST 3 MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION.....ALL PRO OBAMA
I THINK YAHOO SINGLE HANDEDLY GOT THE GUY ELECTED......YAHOO IS A TOOL AND NOT THE TOOL YOU USE TO LEARN.
I HAVE SWITCHED TO GOOGLE B/C IF THIS FACT NO WOUNDER THEIR LOOKING FOR SOMEONE NEW
http://www.howobamagotelected.com/
McCain does not know how to use a laptop, much less surf the World Wide Web (much less know anything ?tech?.) Comparing McCain?s gaffes and management skills to Obama is laughable. Remember, McCain lost. The maverick was no more; it was only until after the election that he finally came back. You also forgot to cite that Obama is the first tech-savvy president ever and that he is also appointing a tech-czar for the first time. Not only does Obama trump McCain in all categories, but we can also add ?tech? to the bunch. It?s alright, you?re not ready. Injecting fantasies into an otherwise reasonable discussion is meaningless. I can see that the truth is hard to swallow. Thankfully, the country got it right for once.
McCain does not know how to use a laptop, much less surf the World Wide Web (much less know anything "tech".) Comparing McCain's gaffes and management skills to Obama is laughable. Remember, McCain lost. The maverick was no more; it was only until after the election that he finally came back. You also forgot to cite that Obama is the first tech-savvy president ever and that he is also appointing a tech-czar for the first time. Not only does Obama trump McCain in all categories, but we can also add "tech" to the bunch. It?s alright, you?re not ready. Injecting fantasies into an otherwise reasonable discussion is meaningless. I can see that the truth is hard to swallow. Thankfully, the country got it right for once.
- by athrillofhope November 20, 2008 7:19 AM PST
- Well, it is only a pity for Yahoo that Obama can not take the helm of their business if what Yahoo wants an inexperienced politician who has produced nothing, achieved nothing for anyone besides himself, and thinks the economic solution is Marx's "redistribution of wealth" paradigm, namely via supporting, along with the rest of the Democratically-controlled Congress, Clinton's legacy of "sub-prime lending" policies that largely got us into this economic mess to begin with.
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(17 Comments)Sounds like a formula for failure.
Superstars do not make sound fiscal policy. This concept of the author has the trappings of Hewlet-Packard's failed alliance with Carly Fiona. She was hired largely because of her "superstar" status. In the end, what they found worked was conservative, solid, logical business practices honed over decades of experience--which is what they have now at the helm of HP.
I guess what this points to is that the author will take any opportunity to worship at the footstool of the liberal and at the same time take a shot at the conservative (consistent with the media treatment during all elections, though). This, or the author has no idea what sound fiscal policy is. Or both.