YHOO - Yahoo Inc.

[bmichaud]

Worst-case scenario Yahoo! writes off the entire investment and shareholders lose a whole $1 per share....

[Guest valueInv]

you don't mean profit. You mean revenue. They are on schedule to "make" $100 in revenue this year. my understanding that much of tumblr is adult content. wonder how yahoo is going to deal with that. yes you do wonder why fb or goog did not buy tumblr first. this is such a crap shoot kind of business that isn't even making money now. there is zero idea where the users are going to be in 2 years.

 

So is Instagram. IIRC, so was YouTube . You think Yahoo didn't think about this?

Instagram? Youtube worked. But the CEO of tumblr is on record as saying display advertising at tumbr won't work. it would turn off their users. so monetization is going to be extremely slow till they figure it out. the fact is that these kind of deals are dice rolls. it's very fun for CEOs, CNBC and the twitiverse. But shareholders?

 

Doesn't mean that other forms of advertising or monetization won't work.

 

People were questioning FB's monetization also.....until a few quarters back.

 

The truth is we don't really know what monetization plans she has.

[Guest wellmont]

I guess hipsters don't like to Yahoo!

 

http://bgr.com/2013/05/20/wordpress-tumblr-imports-yahoo-acquisition/

[constructive]

I remember reading somewhere that they were getting even more traffic than Twitter.

 

http://traffic.alexa.com/graph?w=400&h=220&o=f&c=1&y=p&b=ffffff&n=666666&r=2y&u=tumblr.com&&u=twitter.com&u=wordpress.com&u=pinterest.com&u=reddit.com&

[constructive]

Tumblr generated $13 million in revenue last year.

 

They are supposed to be on track to make $100M this year.

 

http://valleywag.gawker.com/source-tumblr-made-even-less-money-than-reported-last-508851058

 

"But a source familiar with the company told Valleywag that Tumblr's actual revenue (not bookings) in 2012 was less than $5 million."

 

"Even after bringing in an experienced sales VP, Tumblr's revenues have come in below the board's already-meager expectations"

 

"actual Q1 revenue growth was flat and Tumblr is on track to do only $15M in revenue this year."

[Guest wellmont]

I thought Marissa was a tech visionary who was going to revolutionize the web. Just wait until Tumblr is replaced by some new startup.

 

 

 

I think I should start a startup and sell it for a billion dollars. Anyone have any ideas?

 

I don't think she's ever been a tech visionary. extremely smart and great sense of design. and she's right about people who work from home.

[Guest valueInv]

I thought Marissa was a tech visionary who was going to revolutionize the web. Just wait until Tumblr is replaced by some new startup.

 

 

 

I think I should start a startup and sell it for a billion dollars. Anyone have any ideas?

 

I don't think she's ever been a tech visionary. extremely smart and great sense of design. and she's right about people who work from home.

 

That is pretty accurate. What's your connection with this space, Wellmont?

[Palantir]

Many people are smart, and how do you know she has a great sense of design?

 

 

The way I see it, she's been promoting herself as a future CEO for a few years now, and combined with the fact that she's intelligent and attractive with charisma, she can attract talent. Aka make Yahoo sexy.

[Guest wellmont]

I thought Marissa was a tech visionary who was going to revolutionize the web. Just wait until Tumblr is replaced by some new startup.

 

 

 

I think I should start a startup and sell it for a billion dollars. Anyone have any ideas?

 

I don't think she's ever been a tech visionary. extremely smart and great sense of design. and she's right about people who work from home.

 

That is pretty accurate. What's your connection with this space, Wellmont?

 

I follow it via news. used to work in IT years ago. been investing in it and monitoring it since the late 80s.

[Guest wellmont]

Many people are smart, and how do you know she has a great sense of design?

 

we dated.. just kidding!

actually she was responsible for the entire design language of google products. check out google.com. that's her idea. btw I never suggested this background would prepare her to be a great CEO. although dan loeb would differ with that.

[Guest valueInv]

Many people are smart, and how do you know she has a great sense of design?

 

we dated.. just kidding!

actually she was responsible for the entire design language of google products. check out google.com. that's her idea. btw I never suggested this background would prepare her to be a great CEO. although dan loeb would differ with that.

 

Kudos, not many people know that.

[Palantir]

That's not accurate at all. Google's design was limited and minimalistic really out of necessity, there's no evidence to suggest that she's the design guru behind Google, or that it was "her idea". (Although she claims otherwise)

[Guest valueInv]

That's not accurate at all. Google's design was limited and minimalistic really out of necessity, there's no evidence to suggest that she's the design guru behind Google, or that it was "her idea". (Although she claims otherwise)

 

And you know this because..?

[Palantir]

You want me to prove a negative?

[Palantir]

To answer your first question of "You know this because?", Marissa herself notes that Google's design was simplistic due to Brin's limited knowledge of HTML.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/google-design-sergey-brin_n_1384074.html

 

Though some have attributed Google's design to Mayer's own tastes, Mayer said Google.com's layout, which has changed little since its inception, owes its stark look to Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his limited knowledge of HTML, a markup language for websites used to assemble text and other content to create webpages.

 

Mayer said Brin once explained to her why Google's homepage was so blank. When he was first building Google, "We didn't have a webmaster and I don't do HTML," she said he told her.

 

 

[Palantir]

However, what Marissa Mayer does have is puff pieces openly promoting her as a tech visionary and sultry poses. LOL

 

http://gawker.com/5400880/the-time-marissa-mayer-invented-google

 

 

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18k4adr7apa9zjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

 

[Guest valueInv]

To answer your first question of "You know this because?", Marissa herself notes that Google's design was simplistic due to Brin's limited knowledge of HTML.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/google-design-sergey-brin_n_1384074.html

 

Though some have attributed Google's design to Mayer's own tastes, Mayer said Google.com's layout, which has changed little since its inception, owes its stark look to Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his limited knowledge of HTML, a markup language for websites used to assemble text and other content to create webpages.

 

Mayer said Brin once explained to her why Google's homepage was so blank. When he was first building Google, "We didn't have a webmaster and I don't do HTML," she said he told her.

 

So what happened after Brin built a web powerhouse ? Did he not learn enough HTML to put more stuff in the page?  ;D

[Guest valueInv]

However, what Marissa Mayer does have is puff pieces openly promoting her as a tech visionary and sultry poses. LOL

 

http://gawker.com/5400880/the-time-marissa-mayer-invented-google

 

 

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18k4adr7apa9zjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

 

I thin there is a post from Valleywag somewhere that contradicts this  ;)

[Palantir]

To answer your first question of "You know this because?", Marissa herself notes that Google's design was simplistic due to Brin's limited knowledge of HTML.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/google-design-sergey-brin_n_1384074.html

 

Though some have attributed Google's design to Mayer's own tastes, Mayer said Google.com's layout, which has changed little since its inception, owes its stark look to Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his limited knowledge of HTML, a markup language for websites used to assemble text and other content to create webpages.

 

Mayer said Brin once explained to her why Google's homepage was so blank. When he was first building Google, "We didn't have a webmaster and I don't do HTML," she said he told her.

 

So what happened after Brin built a web powerhouse ? Did he not learn enough HTML to put more stuff in the page?  ;D

 

Or did he hire you know designers and developers to build it? I'm still waiting for evidence that Marissa is the brain behind Google's design language.

[bmichaud]

Not that this thread was going anywhere fast, but it's nice to see it's gone from 0 to 60 down the LVLT/AAPL/RIMM highway  :o

[Guest wellmont]

That's not accurate at all. Google's design was limited and minimalistic really out of necessity, there's no evidence to suggest that she's the design guru behind Google, or that it was "her idea". (Although she claims otherwise)

 

lol. really? why wasn't Yahoo's design limited out of necessity? google can make their home page look any way they want. they could have made it look like a cartoon like Yahoo did. But they never did. And that's because of MM.

[merkhet]

Not that this thread was going anywhere fast, but it's nice to see it's gone from 0 to 60 down the LVLT/AAPL/RIMM highway  :o

 

lol

[Palantir]

That's not accurate at all. Google's design was limited and minimalistic really out of necessity, there's no evidence to suggest that she's the design guru behind Google, or that it was "her idea". (Although she claims otherwise)

 

lol. really? why wasn't Yahoo's design limited out of necessity? google can make their home page look any way they want. they could have made it look like a cartoon like Yahoo did. But they never did. And that's because of MM.

 

How do you know it is because of MM? Because ValueInv said so?

[Guest wellmont]

That's not accurate at all. Google's design was limited and minimalistic really out of necessity, there's no evidence to suggest that she's the design guru behind Google, or that it was "her idea". (Although she claims otherwise)

 

lol. really? why wasn't Yahoo's design limited out of necessity? google can make their home page look any way they want. they could have made it look like a cartoon like Yahoo did. But they never did. And that's because of MM.

 

How do you know it is because of MM? Because ValueInv said so?

 

because I say so.

 

Yet, despite whatever frivolity might attach itself to her, Ms. Mayer, 33, plays a pivotal, serious role at Google. Almost every new feature or design, from the wording on a Google page to the color of a Google toolbar, must pass muster with her or legions of Google users will never see it. She is one of the few Googlers with unfettered access to and influence over Mr. Brin and Mr. Page, and Valley wags wonder whether Google’s familiar white home page will even look the same if she leaves the company.

 

In meetings with subordinates, Ms. Mayer comes across as a zealous copy editor or meticulous art teacher correcting first-semester students. With so many new recruits, she reasons, someone has to teach them how Google does things.

 

On a recent morning, a handful of program managers and other executives huddled around a long table in Building 43 on the Google campus here in Mountain View to review changes to products in development. Ms. Mayer was running late. The first team to present was ready, a Web page outlining their offering projected onto a large white wall.

 

“You are going to get comments from Marissa on that gray text,” a female colleague warns one of the waiting managers. “Be prepared for that.”

 

“I think the gray is unimportant,” he replies. “It looks fine.”

 

“I know,” the colleague says. “But you will get comments.”

 

Ms. Mayer enters the room a few minutes into the manager’s presentation and quickly interrupts him. “That gray-on-gray text is hard to read,” she says. “What are we going to do about that?”

 

“We can change it,” the manager concedes.

During a subsequent presentation, she is unimpressed by possible language for a Google Health page that would allow users to share medical information.

 

“I don’t like the words ‘invite’ and ‘view,’ ” she says. “Those two words are recreational. It feels too informal and lighthearted.”

 

“We used the word ‘invite’ because it’s an action word, so users know they have to do something,” a young product manager responds.

 

Ms. Mayer rolls her eyes. “It’s not a party,” she says.

She ends up giving the same or similar guidelines to managers for various Google features and products in other presentations that day. The guidelines are devised, she said, from myriad internal experiments to gauge users’ preferences. Avoid first- and second-person pronouns. Always write “Google” instead of “we.” If you want to make the design on the page simpler, take away one of these: a type of font, a color or an image. Don’t switch tenses. And steer clear of italics because they are hard to read on a computer screen.

 

SHE sighs when asked if she is bored with giving the same directions over and over. Clearly, that question has been on her mind. She and a team of designers are creating a style guide, she says, so she can quit repeating herself.

“The moment I don’t say something about the gray, we have a product that is inconsistent,” she says. “Once I let up, then something gets by. If we use the word ‘we,’ then users think we are picking their words for them. You have to try and make words less human and more a piece of the machinery.”

 

Besides, there’s a measure of protection for her in guidelines and decisions based on research, not on subjective whims. “Then it doesn’t become, ‘Who does Marissa like better?’ ” she says.  - Laura M Holson

[Palantir]

^I'm aware of that article btw, who did they quote? Any statement from the company elders about how Marissa is the design guru? Steve Jobs happily names Ive as his design brain, but can you find anything from Larry? There are tons of puff pieces about Mayer (You cited one), about how using Google search is a "a trip inside Marissa Mayer's mind" (LMAO) and about how she invented Google. So she's the designer and the search brain? Yikes. This reminds me of the article about Scott Forstall as the "next Steve Jobs". LMAO.

 

All evidence suggests that Google's design was a collaborative effort by many of its developers, however in recent years they've hired designers to do away with that approach and come up with a minimalistic design language. The unified look and feel of Google's products is due to those efforts.

 

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21573160-web-giant-wants-be-known-beauty-well-brains-dont-be-ugly

 

Anyways, I don't get it, according to ValueInv, being responsible for Google's look and feel should be nothing to brag about, and rather, a strong disqualification. LOL