YHOOuch (continued)

If anyone ever doubted the value of blogging to public market investors they should read the comments to my post this morning on YHOO.

Here is a sampling:

Behavorial Targeting has really opened up these two industries (more
than others) as to the power of RETARGETING consumers on inventory,
that is just not as expensive as portals….

Thus, when a large company with a "considered purchase product" (like
auto or mortgage) is faced with a choice on HOW BEST TO SPEND MONEY
ONLINE —- the highest CPM placement will often times lose…(unless
they see their consumers at a higher frequency than others)

this is one scenario where portals and large branded websites (with high CPM’s) will lose and not be able to compete.

It’s about ROI – and the auto makers (and their agencies) understand
the value of media and technology online, more than most verticals…

Posted by: andy

AND

Yahoo has huge problems that will not be soon corrected.

1. our customers spend $30M a year on Google and only a fraction of
that on Yahoo because Y!’s management systems are so messed up;

2. internal Yahoo product development and management on the search
engine ad side is in a shambles, and they can’t find their way. You can
bet that Panama will be delayed again. We have had many meetings with
Y! tech people over the last 18 months to try to make our product work
for our customers on Y! and have gotten nowhere, meanwhile at G,
everything works like a charm. So the money flows to G and away from Y.

3. IF Y! could fix their problems they could take back a lot of $$’s
because all my customers would love to diversify away from G a bit and
spend more on Y!

Posted by: Joe Agliozzo

AND

We spend > $2.5 million a year on Google and Yahoo can’t manage
to show enough ads to clear even $50K from us. We put in the same
keywords for both, so …

Time to clean house at the exec level at Yahoo.

Don’t be misled by your cashflow analysis. They will keep finding a
way to disappoint. I remember buying 3Com on similar cashflow basis in
1996-7. That was a genius move alright – NOT. This is not to say that I
would buy Google at these prices (Cisco is back at 98 prices now, so
Google in 2014 could be still at $400), just that Yahoo isn’t the
bargain you think it is, considering they are losing altitude rapidly.

Posted by: James

If you want to know what’s going on in the trenches, just ask. And they will tell you. Anyone who buys and sells stocks, particularly tech/internet stocks and doesn’t read blogs are really missing out.

I didn’t get around to placing my buy order on YHOO today and guess what – I am rethinking it.

Thanks Andy, Joe, James, and everyone else who left a comment. You are the best!

#stocks#VC & Technology