Yahoo! ....Fall of a giant

When you talk about internet giants over the last two decades, Yahoo! is probably the most famous company one can remember. I still remember Yahoo mail as my first e-mail ID as a kid. So, how did a company with such a solid brand name, diverse number of global visitors, cash, talent, and reputation fall so far and fail so decisively?

Yahoo!'s timeline since 1998 is a series of mistakes, these mistakes over the years costed them money, competitive advantage......and reputation. One thing we have learned from past experiences is that one can earn back the money you lose due to silly decisions, but reputation lost is almost permanent, especially when Google is your competition. DoubleClick: Failure to acquire - One of the many mistakes, Terry Semel made as a CEO, failure to buy DoubleClick was surely one of the biggest errors in Yahoo's history. Google acquired DoubleClick for $3 billion, Terry had an agreement to purchase it for $2.2 billion. For whatever reason, however, Terry failed to sign on the dotted line. The decision not to acquire DoubleClick, an advertising network, which was later acquired by Google counts as one of the those crucial moments where Yahoo lost out. In response to Google's acquisition, Yahoo decided to respond by acquiring a 20% stake in Right media, similar to DoubleClick. The company then failed to make the necessary investment to keep the platform competitive with new marketplace entrants, such as Google's DoubleClick Ad Exchange and AppNexus. Did you know?

In the year 1999, Yahoo! paid a huge sum to acquire (broadcast.com) for around $5.7 billion. Companies suffer due to lack of innovation, inconsistent decisions and a complete disregard for the evolving market. Hiring the right person for the role of a CEO is one of those decisions that can make or break the company, sadly for Yahoo! hiring Terry Semel was one of them (Regarded by many as one worst CEO's of all time by outlets such as Business Insider). From failed acquisitions to bad corporate culture, failure to respond to Google's growing dominance played a huge part in Yahoo's struggle post the internet bubble burst. Yahoo! had the chance to compete with Google when they acquired Overture, but it was not integrated well enough to make a difference. As unfortunate the case is, Yahoo! made some fatal errors, a great part of it comes from the fact that they stopped innovating and pushing themselves (failure to purchase Facebook!). So why did Yahoo! fail? Well, bad decisions and lack of innovation being contributing factors, a simple acquisition could have "changed" the way consumers search on the internet....however, credits to Google, who despite making some visible mistakes are still the king of the internet.