I’ve been thinking a lot about Yahoo lately. The Economist has a fair article outlining Yahoo’s challenges, how it got into the position, and their strategy going forward.
Like most Economist articles it’s balanced; however, the article, and the madness of the (blog) mobs [thank you, Calacanis, for the term] that are anti-Yahoo are wrong.
In no particular order here’s why.
1) Yahoo Answers is “the second most popular Internet reference site after Wikipedia”. Most shocking may be the growth rate of the service: 35% from May to June. With Answers, Yahoo’s successfully generating (significant?) revenue through user generated content.
2) Savvy acquisitions of key Web 2.0 companies (Flickr, del.icio.us, …)
3) Video. There has been plenty of discussion on the merits of YouTube’s valuation. Here’s the thing though: Yahoo’s the streaming vido leader (or are they?). Regardless, Yahoo is a serious video player and they’ll continue to be.
4) Yahoo’s recent acquisition of online video site Jumpcut. The purchase, a technology play, has huge potential. A key component of the future of media is the ability to remix content. Jumpcut allows you to edit movies or “remix someone else’s” right in your browser. Huge.
If the possibilities of the proper integration of 4) into 3) doesn’t blow your mind then think about this: a major issue with the monetization of new media is the advertising model. Yahoo now has a tool that allows users, through remixing, to generate the brand/advertising themselves: a mevertising monetization tool. Huge.
5) Making top talent retention a real priority (and putting ownership of the task in the hands of a credible individual)
6) The potential available when Yahoo leverages features/benefits of services across each other (while some synergies are starting to take shape I want more)
7) Deep Tagging (”all the cool kids are doing it”).
Sandboxes that generate tremendous data points to study next generation search techniques (tagging, …) / social networks / … through del.icio.us and Flickr. You don’t think they’re going to learn a tonne from these experiments (that can be applied to search)?
9) The looming purchase of (an open) Facebook. Lots of discussion. Lots of debate. This is a good purchase for Yahoo. Pull the trigger Semel.
10) Strong revenue, strong cash flows, and the coming release of Panama.
Disclosure: loooong Yhoo. Because they get it, they’re building/buying the pieces to capitalize, and it’s going to be a fun run over the next few years.
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