August 30, 2007 | Thursday

Yahoo deck stacked in Decker’s favour

By Jackie Danicki - Blogger  in News |Search Engines |Yahoo

Paid Content has all of the highlights from Yahoo president Susan Decker’s confidential (well, in theory) memo to staff about the company’s latest reorganisation. Bottom line: Pretty much everyone reports directly to her now.

That said, the details of the reorg are not quite as interesting as the reaction that it has been getting from industry observers.

The Wall Street Journal‘s Kara Swisher remarks that “you might feel a bit seasick with all the corporate deck chair moving” - and with good reason. For example, Jeff Weiner - who was rumoured to be considering joining the Yahoo corporate exodus - has had responsibility for shopping, travel, autos, real estate and local shifted back to him after losing them in a previous reorg.

Meanwhile John Battelle, author of The Search, says:

I am tired of Yahoo’s internal focus. I think I speak for many of us. Get back to being Yahoo.

As I’ve blogged previously, Yahoo has been having some trouble deciding exactly what Yahoo is. Word on the ground in Silicon Valley is that the search also-rans have turned to that most reliable of resources for help in sorting out the company: management consultants. The consultants of choice, Stone Yamashita Partners, are rumoured to have been working with Yahoo since former CEO Terry Semel was forced out several weeks ago. Their speciality? Helping companies to decide what exactly they do.

So perhaps this reorg, if it was taken with guidance from genuine experts in corporate focus, might be the last one we see for a while. This could be Yahoo’s turnaround moment.

If it isn’t, expect more tired grumblings from industry analysts and search experts - and perhaps a decisive removal of Yahoo from the number two spot in the global search market. One thing is for sure: If someone is going to knock them out of that position, there is probably no time like the present.

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