Analysis: Yahoo CEO's comeback plan homes in on technology, not media
Her hires, acquisition musings, and other early moves hint at an ambitious, technology-driven comeback plan designed to revitalize aging but well-trafficked properties such as Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports..... Mayer, 37, wants to make Yahoo's properties much more interactive, on PCs and on mobile devices, using social media tools to personalize the user experience and new technology to boost advertising sales. Her well-known focus on user design is expected to result in a simpler, less-cluttered email and home page .... positions Yahoo squarely against Facebook Inc and Google .... Two types of deals are under consideration: companies that will increase user engagement, including on mobile, and those that will boost advertising returns ..... She's spending almost all her time with the product folks ..... Yahoo's advertising technology products, headed for the auction block before Mayer's arrival, are back in favor. De Castro, her highest-profile hire, is known for a deep-understanding of the complex advertising landscape, where dozens of businesses and technology providers are interlinked. ..... Right Media, an automated exchange that allows marketers to blast ads across a network of websites. ..... Roughly 700 million users visit a Yahoo website every month - putting it in the top ranks globally. But the amount of activity people engage in on many sites is steadily declining, and its smartphone offerings are deemed lackluster. .... "The largest change is to be deadly serious about mobile" ..... Facebook and Google, two companies that have taken consumers' time, engineering talent and market value from Yahoo. They are also trying to make the transition to mobile, but it has been difficultHer mere appointment told me Yahoo now means to do technology, it will no longer aspire to be some kind of a media property. This writer has taken a few months to come to the same conclusion.
