Yahoo and Financial Fantasy
October 29, 2009
I was diplomatic when I mentioned Autonomy’s third quarter financial results. I try not to point out that most of the 300 search and content processing companies are in a financial swamp. But this story lured me into the interesting world of corporate financial prognostication. First, read “Yahoo CFO Vows To Boost Operating Margins To 15%-20% By 2012”. Okay, 2012 is 27 months away. Yahoo is not increasing in a significant way its share of the Web search market. The company’s deal with Microsoft has gone quiet. In fact, that deal puzzles me in light of Yahoo’s statements that it still is in the Web search game, an expensive game indeed, I wish to add. The most interesting comment in the write up was:
Chief Technology Officer Ari Balogh said Yahoo’s model is very simple: Engaging its broad audience and gathering insights about their behavior so the company can provide them with better online experiences and better targeted ads. “This is all about how we execute,” Balogh said.
Yahoo? Execute? With cost cutting delivering the financial oomph, Yahoo will have to make Panama into a world class power. Yahoo will have to get its shopping service to work. Yahoo will have to stabilize its interface. Yahoo will have to execute on the basics and maybe then the CFO’s “vow” will mean something to me. Just my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, October 29, 2009
Who would pay me for this tripe?
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