What Happend Chez Yahoo! ?

Everytime that I see global internet statistics and I see that Yahoo! is in third position, after Google and Facebook, I think that there is a kind of mystery behind this internet company. How is it possible that Yahoo! is still in third position? How long has it been since Yahoo! did anything remarkable on the internet? Yahoo! is in the news because of their shareholders, CEOs and Asian assets, but never because of their innovations. When I think about Yahoo!, I see a company lost in the internet market, without focus and forgetting that users are the most important thing in the digital era. It is funny to see that Yahoo! Answers is one of their top online services: a service created by the users for the users.

Yahoo! has an incredible audience. It is one of their major assets. But what gives Yahoo! value are their Asian holdings: Alibaba in China, and Yahoo! Softbank in Japan. If Yahoo! sells its 35% stake in Yahoo Japan, they could generate as much as $8 billion! And the 40% that Yahoo! owns in Alibaba could worth more than 100% of Yahoo. That said, you can understand what Microsoft's real interest in Yahoo! was. But they have to be aware that nothing is forever - two more tsunamis and their Asian assets would disappear for at least one year, erasing the possibility to inject the necessary cash in its fight against arch rivals Google and Facebook.

I believe that what Yahoo! would really need to become a point of reference in the Internet arena again is to go back to basics. That is, to deliver online services to final users. Forget about the rest and focus on what made them relevant and useful on the internet. There are plenty of fields where they can no longer compete, but there are new ones where Yahoo! could bring a breath of fresh air to final users. The real challenge for Yahoo! is to stop listening to the siren song from Times Square and focus their energy on understanding who they are and what role they want to play in the future internet market. To do this the company needs strong leadership. And the surprise could be that it will come from Asia. Could Yahoo! be bought by Alibaba or even Softbank?

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