We Were Yahoo!

From Internet Pioneer to the Trillion Dollar Loss of Google and Facebook

By: Jeremy Ring

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Twenty-one years after its incorporation and 16 years after its stock peak, Yahoo sold for 96% less than its value on January 3, 2000, when it had closed at an all-time high of $118.75 per share, resulting in a market capitalization of $120 billion. Wall Street valued Yahoo!, at that time in business less than six years, higher than it did Disney, News Corporation, and Comcast combined.

At the end of 2016, the top seven businesses on the list of the highest-valued companies in the world by market capitalization include Apple at #1, Alphabet (Google's Parent Company) at #2, Amazon.com at #5, and Facebook at #7. Those companies combined are valued in excess of $2 trillion more than the price Verizon paid to acquire Yahoo!

Yahoo!'s story is one of missed strategies, failed opportunities, and poor execution. Early decisions to de-emphasize search features, undervalue Google, and overplay Yahoo's hand in the Facebook negotiations haunted the rest of the company's existence. In addition, factors outside of Yahoo's control - most notably how irrational expectations of Wall Street created an environment where short-term decisions were made at the expense of the long-term good.

©2017 Jeremy Ring (P)2018 Gildan Media

Buy the book instead.

This is a well-written autobiography by a former male executive with Yahoo. Unfortunately, and inexplicably, the narrator for the book is a female whose style is best suited for romance novels. She is unable to convey a masculine rendition of this book. It greatly distracts from the story that is being told. Avoid this audio version. Buy the book instead.