Now That’s Jerry’s Finally Given Up The Royal Purple, Who Will Be Yahoo’s Next CEO?

November 17, 2008 by admin · Comments Off
Filed under: Technology 

Techcrunch is reporting that Jerry Yang is finally stepping down as CEO of the company he founded — but will remain as Chief Yahoo. The stock closed today at $10.63, legions away from the $33 Microsoft offered for the company last spring.

Scuttlebutt centers on Sue Decker and a possible return of tech veteran Dan Rosensweig.

Here’s the official press release:

Yahoo! Conducting Search for New CEO
Co-Founder Jerry Yang to Step Down Following Appointment of New CEO
and Return to Former Role as Chief Yahoo! and Board Member

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) –

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform.

Chairman Roy Bostock, working with the independent directors and in consultation with Jerry Yang, is leading the process of assessing potential candidates and determining finalists for consideration. The search will encompass both internal and external candidates, and the Board has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading international executive search firm, to assist in the process.

“Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues,” said Roy Bostock. “Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.”

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” said Jerry Yang. “When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation.”

Tags: , , ,

The New York Times Calls the New Microsoft ‘I’m a PC’ TV Commercials Risky — Guru Calls Them Right On.

September 21, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: marketing & advertising 

\

Last Thursday Microsoft switched to the next phase of its $300 million television campaign. Thank God.

I can’t imagine why the New York Times considers it both ambitious and risky. Risky is being so bland, BS-sy and boring that your chief rival Apple is allowed to brand-nap your product and millions of users.

While some found the quixotic commercials featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in search of real people worth a watercooler chat, many (including moi) found them baffling. But after the many years I spent working on Microsoft projects, I have a pretty good grasp of why the company felt it needed to take a gigantic leap away from advertising as usual.

Happily, ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky could tap into local talent. In recent years, Bill has decidedly morphed away from being the Evil Dictator of the Evil Empire to becoming a kind of folksy spokes-geek. He always played that role in the playful company videos that typically first aired during his Comdex or CES keynotes. It suits him.

The new campaign, which carries the theme “Windows. Life without walls,” still features Bill, this time in a cameo role, with the humble-pie email address: bill@windows.com.  In the new spots, he is surrounded by everyone from celebrities like Deepak Chopra and Eva Longoria to everyday PC users, from scientists and fashion designers to shark hunters and teachers, showing off their individualism.  And their pride in using their PCs.

 But what it really does well is what everyone says Obama should do — hit hard at the competition.

The new “I’m a PC” spots are so right on, even for this proud owner of a glossy green Mac Book, that all I can say is ‘It’s about time.’

PS: The new ‘I’m a PC’ group on Facebook already has 527 members.

Update: Straight from Appleinsider’s Irony Files comes this tidbit — the ‘I’m A PC’ commercials were actually made on Macs. A Flickr user named LuisDS made the discovery. AppleInsider says he found traces of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 in the metadata files of the video.

Tags: , , , ,

From the Bears to Britney, Sarah to Shoes, What’s New This Week.

September 8, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: New Stuff 

The week after Labor Day 2008 brings us a bonanza of newbees from the droolworthy to the dreadful:

New Jet Brett Favre, now sporting #4 for his new team, and fresh off his first victory as Broadway Brett

Chrome, the Webkit-based Google browser that’s already being called a Windows killer

New Comeback Kid, Britney Spears, thanking God and her ‘two beautiful boys’ while sparkling her revamped bod through last night’s MTV Video Awards

The new Seinfeld-Bill Gates commercial that’s reportedly part of a $300 million media buy aimed at  ‘engaging consumers, sparking conversation’.  Has Ad Disruptor Alex Bogusky succeeded in making Microsoft cool?  Are you conversing, folks?

The newly ranked Cal Bears, surfacing at #23 after the 66-3 rout of Washington State over the weekend

New VP Candidate, Moose Murdering Mom Sarah Palin — plus a passle of new polls that gives the ticket a bump bigger than you-know-whose

New starter for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rogers, who just won the season opener against rival Minnesota Vikings


But of course, all of these pale in comparison to what’s truly earthshakingly (a nod to last Friday’s 4.0)  nouveau: shoes.  That would be the newly launched, newly luxe Hey Lady Shoes, the Anti-Dyeable, Actually Danceable Wedding Shoe. The brainchild of the Bay Area’s style-savvy Leung twins, the shoes’ breakthrough heel constuction is designed to once-and-for-all put an end to The Pain that marrs that Perfect Day.    If you’re about to be a bride and you’re in search of shoes that are both Anti-Polyester and Anti-Prom, check out the elegance from the twin entrepreneurs.  In fact, Hey Lady’s lush look and feel is so fabulously fashionable and functional, I might almost consider getting married again.

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Yahoo! to Microsoft: “I’m Just Not That Into You.”

July 13, 2008 by guruofnew · 2 Comments
Filed under: Technology 

According to the New York Times, Yahoo has once again spurned an offer from Microsoft. The proposal came late Friday evening from Alpha-Suitors Steve Ballmer and Carl Icahn. Yahoo was given 24-hours to make its decision, which is like really random when it’s so last-minute and on a Friday night (when we usually pretend to be out with Google or maybe Rupert) and feels way like a booty call.

But just hours into the speed-date, spitfire Yahoo decided to play hard to get, bad-mouthing Microsoft to like everybody in the whole entire world, calling the proposal ‘ludricrous’ and like ‘erratic, unpredictable’ and ‘bludgeoning’ and probably even posting on its Super Wall.

Part of Yahoo’s hurt feelings resistance appears to come from the fact that Microsoft now only has eyes for its search business. Rather accept this new pieces-parts strategy, in which Co-Suitor Mr. Icahn, would have taken over the remaining parts of the company, Yahoo insists on being loved truly, madly deeply ‘just as I am.’ Then it went back to lying on its bed with like zillions of pillows and watching old Billie Holiday ‘All of Me’ videos on youtube.

Tags: , , , ,

Say Goodbye to Bill Gates — and Windows XP.

June 30, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Technology, Uncategorized, small business 

Bill Gates has left the building.

And soon, Windows XP, the last operating system anybody (sorta) liked and actually wanted to use, will go poof as well. As of today, Microsoft is scheduled to stop selling XP to retailers and major computer makers, despite fervent protests from frustrated users who want nothing to do with XP’s successor, Vista. While there are still a few ways to get an XP loaded machine — including limited sales via smaller shops till January 2009 –all but the most resourceful will be forced to switch to the once heavily-hawked Vista.

This is why a group of PC users created a “Save XP” petition which is posted on InfoWorld, now reportedly with more than 210, 563 signatures–including mine. Signers want Microsoft to keep selling XP until the next operating system, Windows 7, is available.

Eric Knorr of InfoWorld pens an impassioned plea: We began this campaign because our readers compelled us to do so. Those of us who have been in the industry for a long time have never seen anything like the negative reaction to Windows Vista. Our readers have frequently voiced their frustrations about software incompatibilities, arbitrary UI changes, expanded hardware requirements, and altered security business rules. On the other hand, we’ve also heard from many users who are clearly satisfied with Vista.

Our point from the beginning has been that Microsoft customers should have a choice: For a reasonable period, those who want to license Windows XP should be able to continue to do so just as easily as they can license Windows Vista.

I will add my impassioned plea to Eric’s. As a Microsoft market research vendor, Customer Experience pro and frequent tech focus group moderator for the company and others in the industry, I have over the past ten years listened to hundreds of opinions, stories, criticisms and raves on the subject of Microsoft. I’ve worked with developers, consumers, enterprise, small business, IT, evangelists, you-name-it. My training is all about sifting through reams of feedback, crystallizing what has been expressed and spinning it into actionable form. In this case, seldom has there been such consensus: Vista sucks.

The lone (sorta) good news coming from Redmond? At least they will be providing technical support for XP through 2009.

Tags: , , , , , , ,