As I was reading TechCrunch today I noticed a recurring theme; Yahoo is starting to sink like the Titanic. Three separate posts detail how top talent is leaving the company (or getting fired, depending on how you view these things), Microsoft has officially pulled out of all negotiations to purchase all or part of Yahoo (and make a somewhat viable competitor to Google), and that Google will now swoop in like an opportunistic vulture to gobble up the rotting remains of the once powerful Yahoo.
I know that sounds awfully dire and I purposefully conjured up some pretty vivid imagery, but let me clarify a couple of points. First, Yahoo still has billions of dollars of value simply because of their brand equity and web property portfolio. Nobody will enjoy the spoils of Yahoo’s fall without paying a pretty penny. Second, Yahoo may be able to survive independently, but not unless something drastic happens. Jerry Yang can’t just make a few minor tweaks with the algorithm and the website to save this ship. He needs to change the way Yahoo competes because going head-to-head with Google in search will just get them beat up like the scrawny kid on the elementary school playground.
About Robert
