Yahoo! , why?

The most discussed topic of the last days is Microsoft's bid of $44.6 bn to Yahoo! The question is whether Yahoo! will accept what it calls an offer that undervalues the company ( Microsoft offers a 62 % bonus over the market price of Yahoo! shares even after the bid was made public and shares have gone up). This got me thinking about why Yahoo!, my first accessed internet page, my first e-mail service provider through which long ago i used to talk to my sister even if we were in the same room, but it was a lot of fun at the moment; why Yahoo!, my homepage for so long, who has lightened up my day with the bright colors and happy allure is now the target of a takeover bid?
Internet usage has increased over the past years, overall in the period 2000 - 2007 by 244.7%, North America accounting for 19% of world usage % and Europe - 27 %. Population penetration is 70.2 % in NA and only 41.7 % in Europe, thus the market for internet services is further expanding.
A series of inspired diversification moves and acquisitions caused Yahoo! to grow rapidly and prosper, its shares reaching in 2000, during the dot.com bubble an all time high of $475.00 a share. Yahoo was one of the few surviving large Internet companies after the dot-com bubble burst. Nevertheless, in 2001, Yahoo stocks closed at a five-year low of $4.06 (split-adjusted). And as further events flowed, Yahoo! found itself unable to compete with industry leaders, especially with Google. So the question arises, where did Yahoo! fail?
Yahoo! has diversified products, such as Yahoo! Mail ( that i use with great satisfaction and do not intend to change it), search services such as Yahoo! Image, Yahoo! Video, Yahoo! Local, Yahoo! News, communication services - Yahoo Messenger ( my usual evening time killer), social networking services - Yahoo 360 and user-generated content products like Flickr ( by the way, very nice photos there ;) ).
But lots of controversies arose, concerning adware and spyware, and also, of course, China.
Yahoo, along with Google China, Microsoft and others, has cooperated with the Chinesee government in implementing a system of internet censorship in mainland China, which derives from a series of large anti-Japanese, anti-pollution and anti-corruption protests, many of which were organised or publicised using instant messaging services, chatrooms and text messages. Yahoo stated that the company will not protect the privacy and confidentiality of its Chinese customers from the authorities, statement that drew comments : "ironic that companies whose existence depends on freedom of information and expression have taken on the role of censor." Thus, after cases of information dissipation by yahoo concerning messages sent from anonimous Yahoo accounts, Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) is under investigation by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, and later the union representing journalists in the UK and Ireland called on its 40,000 members to boycott all Yahoo Inc. products and services. When evidence of direct implication in cases of inprisonment and dissemination of private information have been found, Yahoo's defence was brief... " It's complicated ".
Other controversies include the closing of Yahoo News' message board section due to controversial messages and critisism of Yahoo's image search for bringing up sexually explicit images even when SafeSearch was on. Other problems include the fact that for over 5 months, Serbian, as well as Montenegro users aren't able to register for Yahoo ID. When trying to register with Serbia and Montenegro location, Yahoo says that there's a mistake with the information entered. Problem can't be fixed. ( source : www.wikipedia.org )


People close to Yahoo have increasingly been saying that the tightknit, us-against-the-world management style that fueled Yahoo's astronomical rise may also have exacerbated its decline. "Their culture helped them build a superb site and a really edgy brand, but it also held them back from making forward-looking business decisions," says Holly Becker, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. Business partners and former executives say the small group's intense closeness made it hard for Yahoo to retain or attract experienced managers. Over a long acquisition spree, Yahoo spent billions to buy GeoCities, Broadcast.com and numerous smaller companies--yet many of the targets' top executives wound up leaving Yahoo, unable to penetrate its inner sanctum. Yahoo's top European and Asian executives and a slew of middle managers also left, amid complaints that the top team wouldn't delegate authority.
From 386 employees in 1997, Yahoo went to 803 in 1998 and 1,992 in 1999. That's when Yahoo's management style began to look like a liability, some advertisers say. A sense developed that decisions always had to go to the top. New employees, often fresh out of school and sometimes ill-informed, were always having to check with higher-ups before agreeing to terms. "You can't run a 3,000-person company, a $2 billion company, with a core management team of four or five people," says Bill Bishop, co-founder and executive vice president of CBS Marketwatch, a Yahoo advertiser. ( More on Yahoo--What went wrong? http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-503463.html

" Yahoo! accepted offer? " Or "Jerry Yang found a way out " ? The best thing about tomorrow is that it is only a day away.