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    The Week

    Did Yahoo pick the wrong new CEO?

    By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – Thu, Jan 5, 2012

    The flailing internet giant taps PayPal's Scott Thompson, but many wonder if he's any more up to the challenge than failed former CEO Carol Bartz

    Four months after CEO Carol Bartz was brutally fired over the phone last fall, Yahoo has named a replacement. The company's board has tapped Scott Thompson, the chief of eBay's PayPal payment service, to lead the struggling internet portal out of troubled waters. Given that Thompson doesn't have a background in media and advertising, many are questioning whether he's really the right man for the job. Did Yahoo pick the wrong new CEO?

    Absolutely. He doesn't know Yahoo's business: In 2011, Yahoo rebranded itself as a "premiere digital media company," says Nicholas Carlson at Business Insider. Funny then that it's "hired a product manager to be its CEO, not a media or advertising executive." Thompson didn't exactly inspire confidence when, in his first call with analysts and investors, he flat-out admitted to knowing next-to-nothing about display advertising, which is how Yahoo makes most of its cash.
    "Yahoo CEO: I do not have an informed opinion on display advertising"

    He doesn't know how to fix a broken company, either: Yahoo's directors seem to be saying they want to rebuild the company, not sell it, analyst Rob Enderle tells Computerworld, but that really makes Thompson an odd choice. "Their ideal candidate would be someone who recently turned around a company," but when Thomspon joined PayPal it was already in good shape. He may think he can fix Yahoo because he has no idea what the job entails, "where a more experienced CEO might have run for the hills."
    "Can Thompson rejuvenate Yahoo?"

    Actually, he just might be what Yahoo needs: Thompson brings Yahoo tech and the operations know-how it needs, analyst Gil B. Luria tells the Associated Press. He's "the guy who helps build the clock as opposed to tell the time," and took PayPal from an "emerging startup" to a "large, fast-growing and predictable payments company." That, says the AP, is the sort of growth Yahoo will need if it's going to make a comeback. And Thompson is a "collegial leader" employees like working for, a welcome contrast to Bartz's harsh management style.
    "PayPal's Scott Thompson brings tech background to Yahoo"

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    4 comments

    • noone
      noone  •  4 mths ago
      Maybe what Yahoo really needs is a good customer research department - their biggest issue seems to be finding ways to annoy their subscribers. Like when they had that thing that people in their system could tag an article and then a reference to that tag became appended to every email they sent out. I accidentally clicked on something and for months every email I sent said "Name has tagged Joe Lieberman's article on...." and I sent a note asking how to remove it and the answer was "you can't" - how stupid, I'm a paying subscriber to their "premium" email service and yet they didn't have a mechanism for me to remove something idiotic from my emails????

      As I always say, they certainly picked the right name as in 'what a bunch of freakin' yahoos"
    • Firefly
      Firefly  •  4 mths ago
      I'd sooner trust Bozo the clown before Scott Thompson. But Yahoo can do as it likes since it's their company. Just like I can take my business elsewhere if I no longer like or trust them.
    • JAMES A.
      JAMES A.  •  Boston, Massachusetts  •  4 mths ago
      i hear he is yahoo from boston with a good track record.
    • REAL DEAL
      REAL DEAL  •  Fort Lauderdale, Florida  •  4 mths ago
      Yahoo sucks
     Post a comment

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