Is Yahoo doomed?
All the press articles like to use superlatives and forecast a scenario which may or may reflect the truth. Lately Yahoo has the target of such articles. Granted that Yahoo is trying to find focus in the current market scenario with Google leading the way. Microsoft’s bid put the wrong kind of attention on the company. Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo because Yahoo represents something to them. It is not like the company is worth nothing and Microsoft isn’t throwing its money.
I don’t really know how people inside the company feel but if they were to read the articles they may get the impression that the company is going down fast. This will likely make people jump ship to ensure that they have a secure job.
It may be healthy for Yahoo to go through such a cleanup process so that all the people who are not interested in the company can leave. Of course there will also be some collatral damage with loss of good passionate people who think they can’t fulfill their dreams at Yahoo. Others may leave just to avoid all the distractions at work of the uncertain future of the corporation and lack of direction in the day to day initiatives as senior management focuses on possible outcomes. The folks that remain have a change to re-focus and try to keep the company going. It is going to be an interesting year to see what happens at Yahoo.
Sometimes public perception can decide the fate of the company without any basis on factual data. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy of doom. Let’s see what happens.