Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), has taken a giant step forward towards returning to profitability by hiring a new CFO, Ken Goldman, who has now replaced Tim Morse. The new CFO will assume office on October 22, just days after the company’s earnings call. His addition to the leadership team will seem to justify Marissa Mayer’s turnaround tactics, as she seeks to turn the company fully around, returning it to the long gone glory days, by the year 2015.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), has lost a significant share of its search and email business to their rival, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), while others, such as Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Bing, are also capitalizing on Yahoo!’s woes. Additionally, the Internet giant is also struggling to hold on to its share of the advertising business, as the technological advancements have triggered a paradigm shift, which also brings social networks, including the market leader in Social networking, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), into play.
Therefore, Yahoo! finds itself in a tight spot that requites a dynamic turnaround, that will not only be looking at what it used to do, but also at the changes that are taking place in its core business, every single day. This is perhaps the reason why Marissa Mayer has opted to go for new blood, both experienced and innovative, in her fight to restoring Yahoo!’s glory days.
In addition to this, Mayer has also been quoted saying that Yahoo! intends to acquire small technology companies to aid its turnaround, as compared to purchasing various products of the companies. Ideally, this will seem to provide the solution for the big challenge of trying to turn around a company in a dynamic industry.
This is because the small tech companies, have proved to be the innovators of today, as they are the ones that come up with all the fresh ideas that eventually end up in the hands of the industry giants, such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), which recently acquired AuthenTec, the finger print sensor innovators; Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), which acquired, Face.com and Instagram, for its photo-editing services; and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), which acquired Snapseed, for a similar purpose as Facebook’s Instagram.
Yahoo! has also sold its stake in the Chinese eCommerce company, Alibaba.com Limited (HKG:1688), worth $7.1 billion, of which, it promised to refund to its shareholders $3 billion, with the rest probably being used to make the shift in direction take place.
Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch analysts point out that despite finally landing a CEO and a CFO, who are capable of realigning the personnel structure, Yahoo! still faces a challenge in maintaining its share of the advertising business. The analyst are of the opinion that, despite the fact that Goldman has no prior experience in the Internet industry, he has in the past, been actively involved in turning around companies, a good example being Siebel Systems in the technology industry, which was later sold to Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ:ORCL). Additionally, Yahoo!, which was in negotiation with Yahoo! Japan, still faces the challenge of making the deal that failed during Tim Morse’s tenure, successful.
Mayer on the other hand, spent nearly 14 years at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), where she exercised her profession in different areas of the search engine giant. In recent reports, we featured some of the changes she has implemented at Yahoo!, including meals for employees, which the media believes are borrowed from her former employer, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). She therefore, does seem to have what it takes, unlike her predecessors, who came and went within short spasms, to turn around Yahoo!. A publication in CNN Money also indicates that Tim Morse follows other top employees who have left Yahoo!, most notably in the Human Resources, Public Relations, and Sales departments in the recent past.
