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The Delusions of Carol Bartz

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Yahoo CEO Carol BartzShe gave away Yahoo’s search business for practically nothing, she whitewashed Yahoo’s search legacy, she’s selling off Yahoo stock like crazy, and she’s pushing a marketing mantra that went away with the last millennium. And yet, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz actually declares herself “very clever“.

“I never wanted a big upfront payment. What I got was revenue, with my expenses covered. I think that’s actually very clever.”

Oh yeah, Carol. Two birds in Ballmer’s very fickle hand are better than one in your hand. Very clever indeed. [Read more…]

Yahoo is Not You

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After giving away its search business, Yahoo now hopes to become the next AOL by reverting to the portal strategy of the ’90’s. To promote the personalization features of its portal, Yahoo launches a new advertising campaign supposedly focused on “Y!ou“. CEO Carol Bartz wants Yahoo “to be at the center of people’s online lives — to be at the place where their world meets the larger world.” [Read more…]

Microsoft’s Fickleness Will Be Yahoo’s Downfall

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Carol Bartz and Steve Ballmer

Immediately after handing over its entire search business to Microsoft, Yahoo takes a beating on Wall Street. It’s not hard to see why. Instead of the upfront billions Microsoft offered last year, Yahoo is now getting revenue share on search ads.

Sure, it’s a huge revenue share — 88% for five years — but this is Microsoft we’re talking about. Search is only the latest among Redmond’s many fleeting non-software obsessions over the decades. If Ballmer gets tired of Bing within the next five years — which is extremely likely, given Microsoft’s track record — Bing would fall behind Google in search innovation.

Yahoo, being stuck with Bing for the next ten years, would be thoroughly YaScrewed. Carol Bartz just put Yahoo’s fate in very, very fickle hands.