New Yahoo CEO is searching for profits
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Scott Jagow: Yahoo’s stock price is down 50 percent in the last year. If it wasn’t for the possibility that Microsoft might still buy the company, shares would probably be down a lot more. Today, Yahoo reports its latest profit numbers, and we might find out what the new CEO has in mind. Marketplace’s Janet Babin reports from our Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio:
Janet Babin: Just two weeks on the job, Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, is taking over a company that’s had its ad revenue slashed by the recession. It’s frozen annual pay increases and last month laid off 1,500 workers. Bartz could announce more changes later today.
Consultant Charlene Li with the Altimeter Group says Bartz has got to capitalize on Yahoo’s search business:
Charlene Li: Is this an asset to move forward with, is it something that could get the shareholders more money? Her predisposition going in is, and she said this, is to keep the search business. She said she cannot imagine Yahoo going forward without it.
Last year, Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo, mostly for its search business. But Yahoo botched the merger.
The company remains one of the top Internet destinations. Keeping those users, and making money off them, may be Yahoo’s biggest challenge.
I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.
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