Yahoo Boss Quits

Yahoo Chairperson Terry Semel has quit, ending his increasingly ineffectual pursuit of online search leader Google  - so reports http://www.news24.co.za

“Mountain View-based Google now makes more money in a single quarter than Yahoo does in an entire year. The contrast represents a harsh comedown for Yahoo, which was the larger of the two companies when Google went public in August 2004.

Since then, Google has steadily expanded upon the internet’s largest advertising network to create nearly $140bn in shareholder wealth as its stock price increased by more than sixfold. Yahoo’s stock, meanwhile, is worth a little bit less than when Google went public.

Google’s meteoric rise is an especially hard pill for Semel to swallow because he once flirted with the idea of buying Google. In mid-2002, Semel reportedly terminated negotiations when Google set its sales price at $5bn.

Google’s success since then has decimated the employee morale at Yahoo, leading to a recent wave of executive departures that raised concerns about whether the company would be able to retain the talent it needs to regain its stride.

Just last week, Semel assured shareholders attending Yahoo’s annual meeting that he had the fortitude to lead a comeback. He has been counting on recent improvements to Yahoo’s online advertising system and a series of key partnerships to boost profits after the company suffered an 11% drop in its first-quarter earnings.”

Yahoo: Right back at you, Google

In an unsurprising countermove to Google’s recent acquisition of DoubleClick for $3,1 billion, Yahoo announced today that it was acquiring the remaining 80% share of RightMedia (the advertising network that it already owns 20% of) for $68 million.

Yahoo hopes to leverage RightMedia’s arch-product, RMX Direct, to attract publishers with more streamlined and efficient advertising pricing than its rivals. The acquisition will see increased liquidity in the existing Exchange marketplace, hopefully growing opportunities for advertisers, publishers and other industry role players. RMX Direct also features the MediaGuard system that prevents ad malware from infecting member computers and installing popups, spyware and unwanted ActiveX installs, based on predefined filtering criteria.

The RMX Direct product was officially launched as a beta product in September 2006. It replaced the previous clunkier version that had been running since April 2005.

Like the assertions made by DoubleClick after the Google acquisition, RightMedia states emphatically in its blog that “the acquisition will in no way afford Yahoo! any unfair advantage in the Exchange.”

Read more at the RightMedia blog.

Tony Lopes is a freelance writer living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Visit his site at www.hotcopy.co.za.