cameron peron

Yahoo generates $465M in display advertising.  When comparing this to $2.5B in ad display revenue from Google properties it seems low.   Quite simply the two can’t be compared so easily, as Yahoo has a become a ‘company’ – buying and selling massive web properties (delicious) and  game changing ad display technologies (Right Media).



It’s easy to configure social services like twitter, friendfeed, linkedin, delicious and facebook to update each other. Consolidating these feeds makes its easy to share information across multiple on channels.

On one hand it’s a fantastic way to spread and idea and get instant feedback. More importantly you can get immediate responses, say if you were to bookmark something interesting in delicious and have it updated on friendfeed or twitter. It’s so easy to search for relevant topics like “analytics” or a new movie and get instantaneous responses from real people with real content and a real interest in the topic.

Yet on the other hand, centralizing all of these feeds together may give unwanted exposure or an unexpected response to a small update on one of your feeds. You could for instance update a friends of facebook and unintentionally broadcast and unwanted message across Linked, Twitter and other outlets that have greater public exposure – especially to people outside of your closer circle of friends.

It’s all a matter of context and priority. With the right social outlets targeted to specific channels that interest (ie diversifying your business interests through Linkedin, friends through Facebook) you can maintain the right amount of exposure to the right audience while utilizing the best these channels have to offer.

I really admire Detroit.

Up until the early 80s Detroit was a place to start a life and create a future like my family did 100 years ago.  These days its a shadow of economic power house it once was.  Despite this, Detroit has the necessary infrastructure, human creativity and work force to become a game-changing city again.

Detroit was the Dubai of the 20th century. It was built on a simple equation: create an industry + provide total vertical solution + directly and indirectly service it.  Its almost unbelievable to think that an entire car from start to finish was actually manufactured, assembled and serviced all in one city.  Detroit created the auto industry at such a huge scale the economy of the entire state of Michigan was built on it.

Local business suffers from the same disease that affected GM: an unwillingness to change.  The management of GM both ignored low cost and full efficient imports from Japan and took an arrogant approach while to promote  watered-down brands assuming the market hadn’t changed since the 70s.  Having lingered for 20+ years, it’s unrealistic to expect an entire micro economy to transform and reinvent itself itself within a few years.  Had Detroit taken a more sustainable approach at transforming their economy over a longer period of time, as some Gulf States are doing now, they would have probably fared off.

If Israel did it, so can Detroit. Just because the odds are against Detroit doesn’t mean that it can’t replicate the equation again.  Israel transformed a small piece of land with no natural resources into a economy at pair with many Western European countries by utilizing human creativity, trial and error, and shear ambition.

The odds are against Detroit.  But by focusing on a few sectors it could capitalize and dominate over one of several key startup sectors, like cleantech.  Its a long shot, but with the right combination of utilizing its core assets and working like hell could replicate and scale its former glory.

America is truly the country in the world that cherishes the concept of the individual so much, that that the country’s entire infrastructure is designed to make each individual’s dreams come true.

America is the world’s most successful “startup country.”  In principle the sociological, political, commercial and legal environments in the United States were structured in the 1770s to provide any individual with the opportunity to at least try to pursue his or her dreams without facing the discrimination imposed on people outside of the United States (i.e. race, gender, nationality and financial background). Whether one wants to own a ranch in Montana, start a business in Silicon Valley or teach in a high school in a small town, the framework of my country offers many means, including tax incentives, financing, educational grants, and unrestricted land ownership, to make dreams come true.

In practice, the framework created by American’s founders has enabled millions of determined individuals, even those from poor and destitute immigrant backgrounds like my grandfathers’, to make a life for themselves when no other option was available.

The key to both benefit from this system and keep it going, is the drive to succeed.  America is unique in that in pulls out the best in its citizens while creating a fertile environment in which new American immigrants can thrive.

Since Jerry resigned as Yahoo CEO, the dark cloud that circled over Yahoo’s stock value and brand doesn’t seem lift.   In reality, Yang was a symptom of the underlying problems that lay in Yahoo’s top level management: lack of focus and poor execution.

Yahoo stock didn’t soar after Yang’s resignation.  Even before Yang took charge as CEO the value of Yahoo’s stock had been in decline from its post dot bomb high point of $43.00 in January 2006.  Navigating a failed acquisition attempt and white knight takeover, Yang managed to drive the stock price down to nearly $12.00 in late October.  Upon his resignation as CEO in mid November, Yahoo’s stock value shot up by a few points, but didn’t achieve the dramatic increase expected by most analysts. After a few weeks it slumped back its October average and followed the same holding pattern from other S&P 500 stocks.

Had Microsoft completed the take over, it would have effectively bought tremendous volumes of traffic via web properties in need of a serious overhaul.  Rather than optimizing the usability of the Yahoo portal page and focusing on several key high value products, like Yahoo Finance and Mail, Yahoo’s management focused on selling them off as quickly as possible.  Leaving another company to figure out what one’s brand, only after the sale, isn’t the best strategy for long term value, especially for stock holders.  Had Yahoo’s management team focused on this basic issue at its high point in January 2006, the value of their web properties would most likely be much higher. Like any online media business the equation is simple: ↑web property value = ↑ traffic volume + ↑ returning users +consistency in the product/service offering.

Probably the most serious issue is that Yahoo’s corporate culture needs an upgrade from start-up mode.  Maybe it was shear ambition that brought Yang back to the driver’s seat.  However, like most successful founders, Yang excels in the starting not in the building of a company. It takes a serious CEO to turn $7B company into $10B one, and Yang wasn’t that man.  Maybe not even Icahn is. The fact that he was appointed and positioned to take on this overwhelming and extremely challenging role, is indicative of management culture struggling to move on from startup mode.

Yahoo is a highly successful web companies, an amazing startup story, and the driving force behind a balanced and competitive online economy.  What Yahoo needs to do, is step up in terms of raising its stock value and keeping search and online advertising balanced against Google.  This can only be achieved by directly addressing the future of Yahoo’s brand, products and corporate culture, and only then placing a serious leader who can restore confidence to investors and execute effectively.  Let’s hope that Bartz is the right choice this time around.