What Yahoo Could Have Done With $4.3 Billion?

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 18: Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley speaks during the 2011 Web 2.0 Summit on October 18, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The 2011 Web 2.0 Summit features keynote addresses by Internet and Technology leaders and runs through Wednesday. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Bad Move For Yahoo

$1 billion -- Try to buy FourSquare. They will not be bought. But the noise would be good for Yahoo. Go buy someone else in the local space for $500 million or less.

$500 million -- Revamp Flickr. Make it mobile first. Make it free.

$500 million -- Revamp Yahoo Mail.

$1 billion -- Make another attempt at FourSquare six months later. They will not be bought. Go buy someone else for $300 million.

$500 million -- Hire some of the best of the best engineers in the Valley, like 100 of them. Make many small acquisitions just to get the talent.

$1 billion -- Keep in the bank, just in case.

Yahoo To Give Shareholders $3.65 Billion, Mayer Explains Why In Leaked Memo

Giving money back to shareholders makes no sense. I no longer see Yahoo getting the sexy back. Or at least it just made that task so much harder for itself. Why? But why?