Tim Peterson says, “Tumblr is in a bad way. Three years after Yahoo bought the company in a $1.1 billion deal, the social network is having such a hard time getting brands to buy its ads that it’s started to lean on its parent company’s traditional banner ads and one of its would-be rivals’ ad networks to help it make money. “Towards the end of” the second quarter of 2016, Yahoo began selling Tumblr ads through Facebook’s Audience Network ad network, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said during the company’s earnings call on Monday. That appears to have been the first time Yahoo has... [...]

Jason Abbruzzese says, “A positive thing to say for Yahoo: it has become consistent. The downside is that it has been consistently disappointing. Yahoo missed its profit projections in the second quarter of 2016, surprising just about nobody. The company’s stock barely budged in after-hours trading. The company’s revenue did surpass expectations at $1.3 billion, but it came at a cost. Its traffic acquisition costs more than doubled, taking out a big chunk of that income. CEO Marissa Mayer pointed to Yahoo’s lower costs as a bright spot. “With the lowest cost structure... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “At the Cannes Lions festival yesterday, Yahoo announced “Yahoo Tiles,” a new mobile ad format for the “post-tap world.” It offers 360-degree imagery and video on the Yahoo Gemini and BrightRoll ad platforms. Here’s the company’s description: Yahoo Tiles enables brands to tell visually compelling and immersive stories on mobile devices in a post-tap environment. When consumers click on a mobile ad, they are taken to a custom mobile landing page that can feature 360-degree content, including video and images, as well as dynamic and interactive features such... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, bids for Yahoo are expected to come in (or came in) at less than the $4 to $8 billion anticipated by many analysts. Instead they are more likely in the range of $2 billion to $3 billion according to the article: Bidders have lowered their expected prices following weeks of sale presentations by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer at the company’s Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters and its disclosure of data that detailed the company’s flagging prospects. Verizon is still the favorite to win the bidding but the WSJ article... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “The Information has gained access to what it describes as “confidential internal data” at Yahoo. With the ominous title, “The Death March of Yahoo’s Core Products,” the article details traffic declines for key products at Yahoo. The data, apparently put together by multiple product teams at Yahoo, document usage between December 2014 and 2015. According to The Information, three critical products — Yahoo Mail, the Yahoo home page and Yahoo Search — each saw declines of varying but meaningful degrees: Daily users on Yahoo’s home page declined by 16.5 percent. Yahoo... [...]

Greg Sterling says, “Yahoo announced Q4 and full-year revenues. While earnings per share were in-line with expectations, revenues (ex-TAC) were down 15 percent. As expected the company confirmed that it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce and also announced a restructuring. During her earnings call remarks CEO Marissa Mayer expressed confidence in the direction of the company while defending it against accusations of mismanagement, especially around spending. Mayer said that at the end of 2015 Yahoo had 10,400 employees and that by the end of next year the number will be 9,000. Contractors... [...]

Jacob Pramuk says, “Yahoo on Tuesday announced it would consider a reverse spinoff and cut about 15 percent of its workforce as part of a restructuring to boost a sluggish core business. The tech company also posted quarterly results broadly in line with analysts’ expectations. Yahoo reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 13 cents per share on $1.27 billion in revenue. Analysts expected Yahoo to report earnings of about 13 cents per share on $1.19 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters. Yahoo shares fell nearly 3 percent in after-hours trading. Yahoo... [...]

Brad van der Woerd says, “History is filled with examples of improved technologies outperforming predecessors—from the typewriter to word processor to computer, or from rotary phone to iPhone 6… That pattern is true among email service providers, too, with Outlook and Gmail overtaking more players such as Yahoo Mail. Yahoo Mail is not going down quietly, however. Although it has fallen from its top spot among email services, Yahoo Mail is working to revive both its user base and its features to regain dominance. On its 18th birthday, Yahoo Mail underwent a full makeover to tackle... [...]

Entrepreneur team says, “Yahoo Inc. is working on a plan to cut its workforce by at least 10 percent and it could start the process as early as this month, Business Insider reported, citing sources. “We are not confirming this rumor or commenting further,” Sarah Meron, a spokeswoman for Yahoo told Reuters on Thursday in an email. The layoffs, which would result in more than 1,000 people leaving the tech giant, is set to affect Yahoo’s media business, European operations, and platforms-technology group, Business Insider said on Wednesday. This move follows activist investor... [...]

Jason Abbruzzese says, “”Know thyself.” It is one of the Delphic maxims of ancient Greece, carved into the Temple of Apollo. It is sage advice but also a warning — one that Yahoo and its CEO Marissa Mayer still have not heeded. Is Yahoo a media company or a tech company? That’s the central question that has dogged the once-dominant Internet company for the better part of a decade. It was the question Steve Jobs posed in 2007 when he visited the company headquarters. It’s also the question Mayer told people in 2014 to stop asking. But it’s a relevant question,... [...]