Yahoo's Next Big Challenge

Yahoo announced a major restructuring late Tuesday evening (here's the press release), followed by a company-wide all-hands meeting led by CEO Terry Semel. The message was pretty clear. We need to consolidate our business and focus on key areas in order to compete with our competitors. Part of this includes positioning several senior level managers in new roles. Most notably, our CFO Sue Decker takes the helm of one of three newly formed divisions. Current CTO Zod Nazem will assume the helm of another, while a search goes on to control the third.

Semel made it clear in the company meeting today that the rumored 10-15% layoffs suggested in Brad Garlinghouse’s Peanut Butter Manifesto are bunk and that employees need not worry about such rumors. The biggest result of the shakeup is that current COO Dan Rosensweig will be leaving Yahoo in March.

Am I worried?

No, not worried. I’ve been working in the industry long enough to realize that change is inevitable. Especially in the fast paced internet industry. If you let stuff like that worry you, then you’ll go nuts in this business.

I’m happy to see the company take action rather than offer up lip service to the market after the street made it clear that revenues must keep pace with what our competitors are doing.

Have we lost our touch?

We’ve certainly made some mistakes, but at least we’re smart enough to recognize that they were mistakes and take action to rectify them. I’ve seen what happens when you have senior managers at the helm that have no clue. Yahoo isn’t in that position. There are some insanely smart people working for this company. I just hope there is enough motivation among the rank & file to stick through the tough times ahead.

We have a long way to go, but we one thing no other company in the world has. Millions of users. More millions than anyone else on the planet. It’s our job to motivate those folks to stick around and to attract the ones that don’t back to the great products that we offer.

Semel blogged about the road that lays ahead, which includes some pretty poignant remarks. How many other CEOs blog? Much less lay out the roadmap for an industry leading company for the world to see?

This is just another challenge for this company, and in the five years that I’ve been an employee, I’ve seen us tackle challenges head on.

I can’t wait for the opportunity to solve new problems, and play a part in building the next phase in Yahoo’s evolution. It’s been a blast for the last five years, and I’m looking forward to the next five.