I say: Bring on the personalization, as long as we can have some control over our settings and can see what else is out there that we’re missing.

To that end, Yahoo has built a visualization of its “CORE” content optimization and relevance engine technology, which helps power story selection on its home page and other verticals.

CORE calculates a personalized mix of stories for Yahoo Today users 13 million times per day. It has increased Yahoo’s home page click-through rate by 300 percent since being implemented in 2008.

Yahoo brags that CORE is a stunning example of “deep science and great engineering,” but the visualization itself is fairly simple. Visitors to the CORE site can see what content is shown to people of different genders, ages and major American cities. They can also scan through the past 24 hours.

Plus, there’s a real-time counter of the number of views of Yahoo’s home page on a particular day — which continues, of course, to be a whole freaking lot.

For someone who is still mulling things over about what to do about his more than five percent investment in Yahoo, hedge fund investor and activist shareholder Daniel Loeb has been very busy lately getting his arsenal ready.

While deciding whether to mount a proxy fight — a potentially nasty public fight with the Silicon Valley Internet giant that sources said could start much earlier than the expected February 24 filing date to make a board challenge — he’s also had at least one phone meeting with new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson in the last week to talk about the company’s future.

Sources said the talk was cordial, although the pair were not yet discussing any kind of rapprochement, which presumably could lead to board seats for Loeb.

But how far Loeb will go and how far Yahoo will give are the big open questions that are about to be answered.

The earliest nominations for directors by outsiders like Loeb can be submitted is February 24. He then has a month after that to propose a competing slate.

Starting last fall when he started accumulating Yahoo shares, Loeb had aggressively called for the ouster of Yahoo’s Chairman Roy Bostock and director and co-founder Jerry Yang. Yang stepped away from Yahoo earlier this month and Bostock just announced his upcoming departure this week.

Despite the renewed communication with Yahoo, Loeb is still acting like he might opt to fight — or at least freak out Yahoo enough to cooperate.

Among his recent activities, according to many sources:

* Attempting to assemble an alternate slate of directors — including trying to persuade high-profile entrepreneurs such as David Goldberg and Max Levchin to join his board. Loeb has been to Silicon Valley several times to stir that pot.

* Meeting with a spate of powerful tech execs, here and elsewhere, in order to gain support for his battle and search for his own preferred leaders for Yahoo. A favorite is Hulu CEO Jason Kilar.

* Working on hiring a top outside crisis communications firm to handle the expected onslaught of media mudslinging that is sure to take place.

* Buttonholing large Yahoo investors to join him and getting, sources said, more support than expected from bigger ones. That’s no surprise: Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors, Yahoo’s biggest institutional shareholders, voted against the company’s board in its last proxy battle and has been much disgruntled with the latest Yahoo stumbles.

* Recently reaching out to top Yahoo execs, including both Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer Blake Irving and Americas head Ross Levinsohn. Irving was so spooked by Loeb’s hello-there, several sources said, that he sent an email to Yahoo’s top staff about the contact attempt, noting he did not return the call (teacher’s pet alert!).

These are, of course, classic activist tactics by Loeb, aimed at getting the changes he wants made at Yahoo by applying real and perceived pressure.

Loeb had previously criticized the company’s talks with private equity investors, saying the prices being discussed were too low, which helped scuttle those talks.

Yahoo has also tried to gird itself and to assuage other shareholders and the media, as it can hardly stand what a proxy fight will do to its already battered image.

Some recent moves to look like it is on the move include: Loudly negotiating with its Asian partners for a big payday; making significant board changes; and hiring Thompson. Next up, as I previously reported, a large-scale restructuring and the inevitable cost-saving layoffs.

Who wins — and who blinks — in this Loeb versus Yahoo face-off, though, is still to be determined.

The 54-year-old executive, who was hired last month, hasn’t mentioned specifics during meetings with employees and business associates.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

In one of the odder things to happen in my journalism career, I was forwarded a flash analyst report by Wall Street’s Macquarie Capital on the news that AllThingsD.com broke yesterday (and foreshadowed before) about the shakeup of Yahoo’s board.

I cover the Silicon Valley Internet giant closely, obviously, and have had a lot of scoops on its machinations over the years. This was simply the latest, and turned out to be on on target (Phew!).

While that is presumably my job as a reporter, it was apparently of “concern” to Macquarie’s analyst.

Said the report:

One final note: it continues to concern us that one particular journalist, Kara Swisher, frequently seems to be privy to such precise information regarding YHOO. On January 9, almost a month prior to the actual release from the company, Kara wrote, “While some departures seem most obvious — longtime board members Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson — the really interesting part will be the possible exit of Chairman Roy Bostock.” Yesterday she wrote, “expect a change in the Yahoo board composition, too, as early as this week.” And today at 3:38pm EST, she posted a story that “Yahoo will announce the impending departure of four of its longtime board members, including chairman Roy Bostock. The others headed out the door are Hewlett-Packard exec Vyomesh Joshi, Gary Wilson and Arthur Kern.” While we give much credit to Kara for her ability to obtain this information, we believe it reflects very poorly on YHOO’s ability to maneuver effectively outside the public spotlight.

While I appreciate the fist-bump, it’s unclear why it’s concerning for shareholders — whom these reports are created for — to know this information before Yahoo deigned to release the news or spoonfeeds any other information at investor events. After all, fair, complete and accurate information from anywhere in the tech news media could help them make better investment decisions.

And Yahoo also always operates in the public spotlight, even when it is outside it, as does every tech company. That’s especially true these days, in the vastly changed media environment, in which news moves faster and with more immediate impact.

In fact, I’m concerned that worrywart Wall Street doesn’t grok this — but I’m definitely not surprised, either.

Earlier today, I had reported that Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock was stepping down.

He is, and the full letter he just released saying so is below.

Bostock did not say in the missive who will be Yahoo chairman in his place. Intuit CEO Brad Smith has a full-time job, and the newly installed Weather Channel CEO David Kenny does, too. Among the current directors, that would leave Sue James, Patti Hart and newly installed Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson — or one of Yahoo’s new board members.

In the letter, Bostock outlined the departures of four board members and the addition of five more directors (two of which were just named); did a little back-patting of his recent efforts to turn Yahoo around (after presiding over the board that got the Silicon Valley Internet giant into this mess); noted that the Asian talks to sell Yahoo’s stakes there are proceeding (it’s coming!); gave Thompson a thumbs-up (go, Scott!); and delivered kudos to Jerry Yang, the co-founder who left only weeks ago.

“Working with Jerry was always a delight,” wrote Bostock.

(Me, not so much, I would guess! Bygones?)

All kidding aside, Bostock has been the subject of a lot of criticism about Yahoo’s troubles, both deserved and undeserved, most especially for the non-sale to Microsoft several years ago. Many, including activist shareholder Daniel Loeb most recently, have called for his resignation.

It has not been an easy job, to be sure, so it must be a bit of a relief for the longtime advertising exec, who serves on other prominent boards, to finally pull away from the Yahoo black hole.

So, who’s next?

One interesting line in the letter, which everyone already knew, was that none of the various bids from outside investors have passed muster.

Wrote Bostock: “We have engaged with potential investors and reviewed proposals concerning an equity investment in the Company, although at this time there have not been any proposals which have been deemed by the Committee to be attractive to our shareholders.”

Here’s the Bostock letter:

Yahoo! Releases Chairman’s Update for Shareholders

SUNNYVALE, Calif., February 7, 2012 – Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today released the following shareholder update from its Chairman Roy Bostock.
February 7, 2012

Dear Fellow Shareholders:

I write today to update you on the actions the Yahoo! board has taken, and the actions it is pursuing, to increase shareholder value and position the Company for growth. These actions result from a process I initiated about six months ago in a special meeting of the independent directors in which we analyzed the reasons why Yahoo! was not meeting either our own expectations or those of our shareholders.

The board decided then to move aggressively on three fronts to position Yahoo! for future success: one, we initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer with a vision and set of skills to lead Yahoo! into the future; two, we undertook a comprehensive strategic and structural review of the business; and three, we decided to assess the composition of the Company’s board of directors relative to its ability to enhance the prospects for Yahoo!’s future success. We have made progress on all three fronts.

First, and most importantly, we have appointed Scott Thompson as CEO to lead our company. Scott is a capable and dynamic leader who brings the experience and expertise the Company needs to achieve robust growth and success in the marketplace. Over the coming months and years, Scott will lead an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver engaging user experiences driven by innovative products.

Second, we have made significant progress on the comprehensive strategic review which is overseen by the board’s Transactions and Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by director Brad Smith, the CEO of Intuit. The Committee’s guiding principle has been to assess alternatives which would increase value for all Yahoo! shareholders, and the Committee has been open to any transaction or initiative that would serve this objective.

As part of this review, we have pursued a wide range of discussions with potential partners. We have engaged with potential investors and reviewed proposals concerning an equity investment in the Company, although at this time there have not been any proposals which have been deemed by the Committee to be attractive to our shareholders. We are also in active discussions with our partners in Asia regarding the possibility of restructuring our holdings in Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan. The complexity and unique nature of these transactions is significant. While we continue to devote significant resources to these discussions, we are not in a position at this time to provide further detail or to provide assurance that any transaction will be achieved.

Finally, the board has concluded that in order to accelerate the Company’s transformation, the combination of a new Chief Executive Officer with an enhanced team of independent directors would provide Yahoo! with the expertise and perspectives necessary to drive innovation and growth going forward. Therefore, Mr. Joshi, Mr. Kern, Mr. Wilson and I have volunteered not to stand for re-election at the next shareholders’ meeting.

Furthermore, the board today elected two highly qualified independent directors, Alfred Amoroso and Maynard Webb, Jr. Mr. Amoroso served as President and CEO of Rovi Corporation until December 2011 and, among other positions, had previously served as the President, CEO and Vice Chairman of META Group, Inc., the President and CEO of CrossWorlds Software, Inc. and as a member of the world-wide management committee of IBM Corporation. Mr. Webb, the Chairman of LiveOps, Inc., served as that company’s CEO until July 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Webb was Chief Operating Officer of eBay and Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Gateway, Inc., in addition to management, leadership and board positions at several other companies spanning his 30-year career.

The board continues its search for additional independent directors. This search is being led by director Patti Hart, CEO of International Game Technology, Inc., who chairs our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. We anticipate announcing additional directors to round out the board as soon as this process concludes.

Separately, as previously announced, Jerry Yang has resigned from the board of directors and other positions within the Company to pursue his many interests outside of Yahoo!. Working with Jerry was always a delight. He is a visionary and a pioneer who contributed enormously to Yahoo! since he co-founded the Company in 1995. He will be missed. The board thanks him deeply for his service and commitment to the Company.

Thus, following this year’s Annual Meeting a majority of Yahoo!’s directors will be new to the board this year, and all directors will have joined the board since 2010. We believe that this reconfigured board, with a fresh set of perspectives and diverse set of skills, will enable the Company to move forward even more aggressively.

It has always been a privilege for me to serve as Chairman of Yahoo!. The employees of Yahoo! remain the heart, soul, and future of the company. And with Scott Thompson leading them, they are the reason why I believe Yahoo! will create significant shareholder value over the coming years.

In September, this board moved proactively and decisively to improve the performance of the Company for the benefit of its shareholders. These actions could not have been accomplished without the support and active participation of each director on the board. For that, I thank them. And I thank them for the knowledge, expertise, talents and commitment they have brought to Yahoo!. We all take pride in the fact that we are positioning Yahoo! for success in the future. Yahoo! is an incredibly strong brand with formidable assets. I have every expectation that under Scott’s leadership, working together with the reconstituted board, the Company will thrive for many years to come.

Sincerely,
Roy Bostock
Chairman of the Board

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo will announce the impending departure of four of its longtime board members, including chairman Roy Bostock.

The others headed out the door are Hewlett-Packard exec Vyomesh Joshi, Gary Wilson and Arthur Kern.

I had reported in several previous posts that this exact group of directors was leaving, and noted in one yesterday that it was about to happen, and that new board members were also on the way.

And, presto, it is so!

(Update: Yahoo confirmed all in a letter it just released from Bostock, which I have posted separately.)

Yahoo’s two new directors are former Rovi CEO Fred Amoroso and LiveOps Chairman (and former CEO) Maynard Webb, who was once COO of eBay (pictured, left to right).

Rovi does digital entertainment technology, while LiveOps offers cloud-based enterprise solutions.

The Silicon Valley Internet giant will also be adding three more board members, said sources, but those people are not confirmed as yet.

And it is not clear who will be chairman of Yahoo’s board, either. Intuit CEO Brad Smith has a full-time job, and the newly installed Weather Channel CEO David Kenny does, too.

Sources said the news is coming after the markets close, with other updates, including: The news-free status of its ongoing strategery (the Asian deal is coming along — blah, blah, blah — but you read that here yesterday in much more detail); ladling praise on new CEO Scott Thompson (also formerly of eBay); and giving props to co-founder Jerry Yang, who stepped away from the board and from the company several weeks ago.

The moves by Yahoo are designed to thwart a possible proxy fight that might be coming from activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, who has been working on a board slate of his own.

It’s been hard for him, and also for Yahoo, to attract significant names to the board. The two new additions are solid tech execs, although certainly not high-profile appointments.

Yahoo declined to comment.

Here are their bios from the Rovi and LiveOps Web sites, if you want to know more:

Fred Amoroso is a member of Rovi Corporation’s Board of Directors.

Fred Amoroso is a member of Rovi Corporation’s Board of Directors. Fred Amoroso previously served as Rovi’s president and chief executive officer from July 2005 to December 2011. Prior to joining Rovi, Mr. Amoroso served as an advisor to Warburg Pincus, an investment firm from September 2004 to June 2005. From July 2002 to August 2004, Mr. Amoroso served as the president, chief executive officer and vice chairman of Meta Group, an information technology research and advisory firm. From October 1999 until its merger with IBM in January 2002, Mr. Amoroso served as president, chief executive officer and a director of CrossWorlds Software, Inc. Prior to CrossWorlds, Amoroso was a member of the world-wide management committee of IBM, was general manager of IBM Global Services Asia Pacific and held various other executive positions at IBM. Before joining IBM, Amoroso held various positions at Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers, including lead technology partner.

Mr. Amoroso holds a B.S. in systems engineering and M.S. in operations research from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.

As Chairman, Maynard brings almost 30 years of experience developing and leading high-growth companies to his role at LiveOps. From December 20, 2006 to July 18, 2011, Maynard was also LiveOps CEO. He joined LiveOps from eBay where he served as Chief Operating Officer. At eBay, Maynard directed engineering and technology operations, product development, customer support, trust and safety, global billing, human resources, and legal functions. Prior to eBay, Maynard was Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Gateway, Inc. He has also held management and leadership positions at Bay Networks, Quantum Corporation, Thomas-Conrad Corporation and IBM. A respected member of the Silicon Valley technology community, Maynard sits on the boards of several successful companies, including Salesforce.com, Admob and Baynote. Maynard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Florida Atlantic University.

Flingo is best known as “the video start-up run by the guy who used to run BitTorrent.” And so far, CEO Ashwin Navin has been concentrating on building “smart TV” apps that you’ll find on sets from Samsung, LG, etc.

Now the plan is to put the new money into software that will automatically figure out what viewers are watching. That way, it can bring them more information about what’s on the screen, and/or help them tell their pals about it.

And that, theoretically, could help Navin grab a piece of the very big TV advertising pie.

But that plan puts Navin in the same place as several other “TV check-in” services, like GetGlue and Yahoo’s IntoNow. And all of them face the same really big challenge: How do you get people to use this stuff?

It’s not that people aren’t interested in telling their friends what they’re watching. It’s just that they’re already doing that, on Twitter and Facebook.

That doesn’t mean a specialized social service that works with the existing ones can’t take off — that’s one of the big takeaways from Foursquare and Instagram.

But it does mean these check-in apps have to provide something pretty great. Or the second-screen real estate is going to get claimed by folks like Mark Zuckerberg and Dick Costolo.

But a month later, both PayPal and its parent company eBay say they have the depth of leadership necessary to execute its plan to enter the world of in-store payments.

In an interview, David Marcus, PayPal’s VP of mobile, made the case for why its mobile payments strategy will prevail in a market surrounded by incumbents like Visa, MasterCard and American Express, as well as new entrants like Google.

On the matter of Thompson’s departure, he downplayed the role of one executive.

“The strategy wasn’t one man’s thing,” he argued. “It was a shock for 24 to 48 hours, but we control our destiny, and it’s about execution now. So far, so good.”

In addition to speaking to Marcus and several other executives, AllThingsD got an exclusive look at the company’s newly constructed “Shopping Showcase,” which will be used to demonstrate to potential partners how it envisions next-generation payments will occur at the register.

From the ground floor of the company’s San Jose headquarters, it has built several realistic-looking facades, including a hardware store, a grocery store, a clothing store and cafe; users can walk from one experience to the next. I also tried out the experience of making a real purchase at Home Depot, where it is currently being piloted at many San Jose-area stores. (See the slideshow here.)

To be sure, Thompson’s departure was abrupt. He gave PayPal only 15 hours’ notice before the planned announcement that January morning by Yahoo.

But the company now maintains that its strategy for the next two years had long since been cemented, making it much easier to absorb the blow.

Over the next few years, PayPal will be trying to take its online relationship with 106 million consumers worldwide into the physical payments world, by extending its digital wallet services to cash registers at grocery stores, hardware stores and other retail locations.

It plans to do this through a series of different technologies, including PIN codes, credit cards and other services.

Meanwhile, other providers are trying to attack the market using near field communication, where users will tap their mobile phone at the register in order to pay.

Google, Visa, MasterCard and a consortium of wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile, are all working on similar solutions, which will require retailers and consumers to upgrade their point-of-sale technology and mobile phones, respectively.

“Yes, NFC will be useful, and we’ll be there, but today we are trying to do more than replace swiping with tapping,” Marcus said.

He envisions shopping becoming a more fluid experience. Today, you pick out the items you want, place them in your shopping cart and then stand in line at the checkout.

But in the future, he asks, why couldn’t that change? What if you paid for items in the store’s aisles, or purchased them online before picking them up in the store?

NFC can be restrictive, because you have to be at a physical location in order to tap a terminal and pay.

The scenarios are possible, given how fast things are already changing.

Last year, PayPal exceeded its own expectations, reaching $4 billion in mobile payment volume. This year, it expects to increase that to $7 billion. One of those purchases last year was a $40,000 backhoe, which someone bought using PayPal on their phone.

“By the time NFC catches up, we will be in a world that will move away from the point-of-sales terminal,” he predicts.

As with PayPal’s traditional business, it expects to make money on fees, also called the interchange rate, which the retailer is responsible for paying. Its goal is not to provide a cheaper solution than the incumbents. Rather, it wants to provide other perks that will help retailers and provide incentive for the retailers to want to work with PayPal.

Such perks could include platforms that will allow the retailers to offer loyalty programs, shopping lists, credit options or coupons.

“If you add a payment method that adds 30 to 40 percent more volume [in business to the retailer], then the interchange doesn’t matter,” Marcus said.

Completed two weeks ago, the showcase is designed to woo major retailers and other potential partners that may be considering adopting PayPal’s mobile payments services.

The room includes several realistic-looking facades, including a hardware store, a cafe, a grocery store and a clothing retailer.

In each scenario, it demonstrates how it uses a mix of new technologies, offers and loyalty programs to make it faster and easier to and pay and stay engaged with the retailer.

What you won’t see is demonstrations of near field communications, which is a technology being used by many of its competitors. (To learn why it is not using NFC, read an interview with PayPal’s VP of Mobile David Marcus, coming later today.)

I also visited Home Depot in San Jose to buy something using my PayPal account. The service is now live at many of the Bay Area hardware stores.

Today, PayPal is one of the leading online payments companies, with 106 million users worldwide; but this year, the eBay-owned company is attempting to move offline, by partnering with retailers like Home Depot and other major chains to be announced later this year.

Here are the photos from the Shopping Shopping Showcase and Home Depot shopping visits:

View the slideshow

Let’s be clear on the much-awaited Asian deal that Yahoo and its Asian partners have been working on: While it is certainly still moving forward, once signed, it will not actually officially close until next year.

Yes, that’s right — 2013!

Still, what everyone and his investor is waiting for is the splashy announcement of the agreement, which involves the Silicon Valley Internet giant, China’s Alibaba Group and SoftBank, a large shareholder in Yahoo Japan.

Yahoo leadership has been hoping that could happen before Feb. 24, an important date after which activist shareholder Daniel Loeb could begin to mount a proxy fight against the current board.

And while the definitive agreement — involving the sale of Yahoo’s 33 percent stake in Alibaba and 35 percent stake in Yahoo Japan — has been moving back and forth among the dealmakers, one source said its completion might take a little longer than that, perhaps even into mid-March.

“It is one of the most complicated cross-border transactions in a long time,” said one person close to the situation. “It’s three different languages, three time zones and three companies that have not always seen eye to eye.”

It’s not that the companies don’t have the top talent on the effort. For Yahoo, it is CFO Tim Morse (who most recently also warmed the CEO seat, until Scott Thompson’s recent appointment); for Alibaba, it’s CEO Jack Ma and CFO Joe Tsai; and, for SoftBank, it is top man Masa Son and his top man Ron Fisher.

To make things even more complex, at the same time as the negotiating is going on, the trio also has to pay mind to how the Internal Revenue Service in the U.S. is going to view the whole deal.

As you can see here from a Wall Street Journal chart, it’s a pretty complicated “cash-rich split-off” to avoid taxes.

While the IRS cannot take an application for a “private letter ruling” until it has an actual agreement in hand, and will not issue one on a hypothetical transaction, the agreement still must be crafted so it is most likely to pass muster.

And only then can anyone move on to the many billions of dollars that Yahoo will instruct Alibaba and SoftBank to pay or contribute in kind for the asset part of the arrangement.

As the Journal noted, in more clarity than I ever could: “A key part of satisfying tax-code requirements is that the company shedding its shares get assets, not just cash, in exchange for them. Cash can’t account for more than two-thirds of the transferred value, tax rules say. This restriction was adopted in 2005 to limit misuse of the provision.”

While Yahoo’s execs have met about the various possibilities, it is more considering now than anything else.

And although a lot of names have been bandied about — Weather Channel, WebMD, as well as Glam Media and even Digg — the more likely direction Yahoo will go in will be different, according to many sources.

First, said sources, the key criteria for the purchase will be to diversify revenue streams, a theme Thompson sounded in his first earnings report recently. That could mean more online commerce, perhaps, rather than advertising or media assets.

Second, said sources, international properties might be more valuable to Yahoo than owning more U.S.-based ones, which opens up a range of interesting possibilities.

This could even include some already held by Alibaba, for example, such as garnering a big stake in its publicly-traded Alibaba.com. Technically, via Alibaba, Yahoo already owns some of the e-commerce giant, but not directly. Another possibility is to get back the Yahoo China business, also now owned by Alibaba.

Third, U.S. companies that Yahoo might look at could be unusual and even bold. Two names brought up in recent internal meetings, for example, were Netflix (before its stock revived) and Yelp (which is prepping for an IPO, and which Yahoo once tried to buy already).

And if things were not already needlessly complex in fixing its Asia problem, expect a change in the Yahoo board composition, too, as early as this week.

As I previously reported, at least four directors are expected to move on. More to the point, there will also be replacements announced at the same time.

To stave off Loeb and even give him a perceptible win, sources said the company is considering announcing the changes sooner than later, with the hope that fresh new members will placate other shareholders.

Lastly, with Thompson starting to take the reins after a month there, I would also expect he’ll weigh in on some significant restructuring (his word, not mine!) at Yahoo soon enough, too.

Complicated? Sure is! Perplexing even? And how! But until Asian and board resolutions, the real work of fixing Yahoo can’t really begin.

Okay, okay, we get it: Morgan Stanley got the coveted left-hand lead position on Facebook’s blockbuster IPO filing. Goldman Sachs is there, too, but in the third-place, always-a-bridesmaid spo,t and is crying big salty tears about the injustice of it all.

It’s hard to feel badly for overpaid investment bankers, and focusing on them is kind of like endlessly discussing the lawyers who processed your mortgage, when the focus should be on the house you’re buying.

Does anyone except a few Richie Rich ZIP Codes in Manhattan care about this one deet of the initial public offering of the social networking giant?

Nope, but there is so little real news ahead of the IPO filing expected today that this is what we are chomping on this morning, as everyone awaits the big doc drop at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sources said it is likely to come this afternoon rather than this morning, though. And, perish the thought, all that dotting of I’s and crossing of T’s could delay it to tomorrow, even (unlikely, but mebbe!).

Sigh.

Tidbit: Facebook was actually founded the first Wednesday in February of 2004 in an undergraduate dorm room at Harvard University, like today but eight years later.

Thus, here’s a boring Facebook history timeline chart to look at:

Okay, that was really dull.

What up? The board met, the spinmeisters are at the ready and, most of all, Silicon Valley is stoked to make some more arrogant badillionaires.

Now, hopefully, we’ll get the real news about Facebook.

Namely, who’s getting the big dough in this much-anticipated Web 2.0 gambit? Co-founder and CEO and Hoodie Commander Mark Zuckerberg fer sure, but who else?

Plus all the juicy financials from Facebook, along with stats in usage, growth and just how much the company sticks it to its gaming serf — oops, partner — Zynga and others for the privilege of being on its all-powerful platform.

Me? I pay nada, like other Facebook users, for being able to show off pictures of my vacations and decline friendships from PR people I like, but still … well, you know.

Here is another Facebook financial chart that will not knock your socks off unless you are an accountant:

I am now so comatose waiting for the show to begin that I briefly began a liveblog of my activities this morning.

It went like this:

4:45 am PT: Done with AOL Q4 earnings, which were meh, but better meh than expected. AOL, if you recall, used to be Facebook and now is, um, not.

Note to Zuckerberg: Be nice to people on your way up, since you’ll meet them again on the way down.

4:46 am PT: I check the SEC site and get zip. Click, click, clickety-click over to find out the latest on Demi Moore and her fake-pot debacle.

Who knew there was synthetic cannabis and it is called K2 or Spice? Not me! According to Wikipedia: “It seems likely that synthetic cannabis can precipitate psychosis and in some cases it is prolonged.”

I decide to blame Ashton Kutcher and then wonder if he is an investor in Facebook via BFF-to-errant-celebrities-who-like-tech Ron Conway, also a Facebook investor.

Note to self: Call Ashton! That dude plays village idiots all the time, but I am not fooled by Mr. Pretty Face.

4:47 am PT: I consider email bombing Yahoo’s Jerry Yang, who is probably not so busy right now, and asking him what he thinks about the Demi Moore crisis and also Facebook’s IPO.

Remember when Yahoo was king of Silicon Valley and Yang posed in that purple VW on the cover of that magazine? Better still, remember when Yahoo was going to buy Facebook for just over $1 billion and then borked it?

Just sayin’, Mark — so, keep it reals!

4:48 am PT: I consider going out for doughnuts — and not because of any real weed need. I just would like me some glazed and sprinkled sugar treats right about now. Then, I could post the pictures of them on my Facebook page.

Sweet.

But you-know-who would file right when I left the house on the munchie run. Click, click, clickety-click over to the SEC site and I come up peanuts.

Time to check in on the Kardashians.

You get the idea — so, Facebook IPO, take me away!

MORE ON THE FACEBOOK IPO:

• Facebook’s Ad Business Is a $3 Billion Mystery
• Viral Video: Farewell to the No-IPO Mark Zuckerberg
• Zuckerberg Is the Billion-Share Man: Who Owns What, Who Makes What in the Facebook IPO
• Zuckerberg Tells Investors, “We Don’t Build Services to Make Money”
• Mobile Highlighted as Key Risk Factor (and Opportunity) in Facebook Filing
• Stop All That Poking: Facebook Filing Temporarily Crashes SEC Web Site
• Zynga Accounted for 12 Percent of Facebook’s Revenue in 2011
• Facebook Has 845 Million Users
• On Its Eighth Birthday, Facebook Files to Raise $5 Billion in Massive IPO (Get Your S-1 Here!)
• Go the F**k Back to Sleep, Silicon Valley: Facebook IPO Likely to File Later Today at Earliest
• Dude, Where’s My Facebook IPO Filing? (Ashton’s on Hold!)
• The Quiet Man: Meet the Less-Known Face of the Facebook IPO, CFO David Ebersman
• Facebook Board Meeting Today for Final IPO Okays
• Facebook (Eye)PO: Tracking the Truth of the Biggest Deal of Web 2.0
• Viral Graphic: Visualizing the Facebook IPO
• Is Facebook IPO on Track for Late May?
• IPO Watch: Facebook Hiring Brunswick to Help With Comms for Expected Public Offering
• Complete Facebook coverage

The companies — along with others such as financial-service companies Bank of America Corp., FMR LLC’s Fidelity Investments and eBay Inc.’s PayPal — are hoping to create an environment that allows the recipient of an email from, say, a bank, to feel secure that it isn’t a trick.

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According to sources close to the situation, new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson is meeting with the two private equity firms that had made previous partial investment overtures to the Silicon Valley Internet company.

While those deals are now tabled, sources said that Thompson and the Yahoo board still wants to engage investors — Silver Lake and TPG Capital — in discussions about how to best turn around Yahoo.

Thus, sources said, Thompson was interested in meeting with the firms — as well as others involved, such as VC Marc Andreessen, who had been working with Silver Lake — in order to discuss their ideas and get up to speed on them.

And, of course, keep the discussions alive to see if there is any kind of different deal to be done in the future.

That’s after, of course, Yahoo completes its complex negotiations with its Asian partners — Alibaba Group and SoftBank — over selling off parts of its own stakes there.

While Yahoo’s success in resolving Asia is not assured, this transaction was a key part of proposals for a PIPE — Private Investment in Public Equity — deal that both Silver Lake and TPG had made.

But, after shareholders looked askance on such a deal due to price and other issues, Yahoo decided to negotiate on its own and picked a new CEO.

Still, in a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too move, the company leadership also did not want to close the door on the PE firms (and their money and expertise). completely.

That’s especially true, since the distinct possibility of a proxy fight from activist Yahoo investor Daniel Loeb is now hovering over the company’s neck.

Both Loeb and Yahoo are scrambling to prep for the potential battle. Loeb is trying to assemble a slate of alternate directors, and shoring up other major Yahoo shareholders as allies, while Yahoo is moving to shed some directors while also adding new ones.

Hence, the meetings with PE firms to keep the proverbial ball rolling, which presents at least the facade that the company is intent on turning the core parts of Yahoo around by any means possible.

Sources close to the PE firms remain dubious, with both feeling burned by the last process.

“I’m not sure anything will come of this, and the way Yahoo conducted the last talks was not encouraging,” said one source. “But it does not cost anything to keep listening.”

You want news out of Scott Thompson? Then you’d be very disappointed with the Yahoo CEO today. Not surprisingly, the new boss — who wants us to remember that he’s really only officially been at work for two weeks — says it’s too early to talk about his plans.

But he does have some, he insists. For instance:

• He has a plan to fix Yahoo’s big mess in Asia.
• And he has a plan to help fix ad sales, which have been in turnaround for nine months and are still declining.
• And he has a plan to buy some stuff to “fill in technology gaps” that will help with all of that.

But no details on any of that during the Q4 earnings call. Instead, Thompson repeated what he told Yahoo employees during his first address to them — Yahoo is both a media and technology company, and people should get their heads around that — and he laid out some big, pretty obvious ideas:

• It’s important to pay attention to users and advertisers.
• Yahoo should move fast, etc.
• He’s going to double down on some existing Yahoo projects, and cut others.

Got it? Good. More details to come, Thompson says. And yes, for the record: That is a serious Massachusetts accent on the new guy.

—————–

EARLIER

Earlier this month, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson got on the phone with Wall Street analysts, and refused to discuss the company or his plans for it in much detail.

Fair enough: He had just been hired that morning, and had barely met anyone in the company.

So now it’s been nearly three weeks. Think he’ll offer much more in the way specifics, in the wake of the company’s Q4 earnings report?

Me, neither. But Wall Street will still be hungry for any scraps it can get, whether it’s an update on the company’s Asia mess, a hint about future cost-cutting moves, or a general “here’s what I think we should be doing” state-of-the-state.

We will definitely get a chance to hear the Boston accent that seemed to charm everyone so much in early January. Time to see if it’s still as effective.

4:58 pm: Greetings! Just doing some finger exercises in advance of the call. Also looking for some Kara Swisher aviator glasses, since La Swish is in transit and cannot cover the call herself. I’d say I’ll do my best to channel her as I type, but I don’t think I could handle that.

5:00 pm: There’s time for a quick ticker check: Investors still yawning, and YHOO shares are nearly flat, after-hours. But Apple!

5:01 pm: And we’re off. On the call: Thompson and CFO Tim Morse.

5:03 pm: Thompson: Even though I’ve been here for three weeks, my official start date was only two weeks ago. Still! I had strong opinions before I arrived, and since then, I’ve been looking around: Big opportunity here.

Powerful brand, lots of visitors: 702 million globally! Advertisers like us, etc. “We’re going to work not just at scale, but with speed.” “I feel great about that, but I’m still very clear that we have a lot of work to do.”

You want details? Won’t give ’em. But I’ll talk about guiding principles:

For me, I insist “that we be balanced.” Have to think about customers, who we are, [something I missed] and how we allocate capital. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

And before we get to any of that, let’s talk about Q4 numbers and 2012 projections.

[At this point you can consult the numbers they've already put out]

Let me praise some people. And, “there’s no question” that we can do better. “And we will.” Need to get to market faster, monetize better.

5:07 pm: Here’s Tim Morse, with some numbers. [Again, you can read most of this, so I'll skip most until he gets to the "color" part.]

Challenging quarter, but I’m proud of the team. Etc.

And now, some 2011 numbers. [Again, I'll also skip this stuff.]

[Meanwhile, here's Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney's take, fresh off the grill: "Fundamental trends remain nothing to email home about. The Display Advertising results were a clear negative, and the Search Advertising results continue to remain murky. Stock buybacks are (almost) always good … Scott Thompson has his work cut out for him …"]

Some details on our display missed. We missed by $15m; $10m of that is from Europe and macroeconomic stuff.

We’re nine months into salesforce revamp. We’re doing pretty good with that. “Several major advertisers” that had bailed or cut back on Yahoo spend have made “meaningful commitments for 2012.”

Some search notes. A reminder that we extended Microsoft search deal through 2013.

We’ll get to 2012 guidance in a minute. But first, a reminder that we’re still growing visitors and page views. More of that to come. U.S. elections and Olympics will be big for us.

“In short, we’ve made progress on many fronts, but that’s not the whole story.” Revenue isn’t growing, and “we expected better.”

5:18 pm: Guidance numbers, which you can also get from the release. But they are “not reflective” of our long-term goals. Because we want to grow.

And margins will get better, too.

And yes, we’re talking about fixing our Asia mess. But we won’t be able to go into details about that on this call.

5:21 pm: Back to Thompson. Okay. So here’s more on that “balance” stuff.

First: Customers. Both our users and our advertisers — we want them both to get real value from us, “and we will focus equally on both.”

We have to get people to use us more frequently. And we need advertisers to know we like them, we really like them.

5:22 pm: Two: “Balance in who we are.” We’re a media company and a tech company. We need to be great about both. “So we end the debate about which is more important … we must do both. End of discussion.”

Three: We gotta grow fast. “When it comes to making decisions, I make them quickly, and then push to move fast, fast, fast.”

Four: We gotta balance investment resources for today, tomorrow and long-term. Right allocation of capital is very important. Most resources have to go to “current core business.” But a lot also has to go to the products of tomorrow and the next 12 months. And also a “small but meaningful” amount into products that won’t show up for a year or more. We need a vibrant long-term product pipeline, and we have to consider businesses that don’t look anything like what we’re doing today.

But need to be very clear — not about restarting investment cycle. Refocusing, which means there are some things that we’re going to stop doing [that is, we'll have shutdowns and cuts].

I have some very clear ideas about the specifics of what we’ll do. But I won’t tell you about them.

Still, some big ideas: Customer experiences, and data.

5:26 pm: On customer experience: 702 million users a month. Did I mention that? Yes, I did. I’ll say it again. “But the sheer numbers of users will not get us to where we need to be.” We have to improve their experience while they’re here: Better interfaces, faster speed, deeper and “much more relevant content.”

And we need advertisers to get better results, and spend more money with Yahoo. [Don't do the opposite!]

On to data: We can use data to make the experience better for users — tweak layout, content, flow of the page and advertisers. “Nobody has done that yet on the Web.” “I know lots of companies talk about using data.” But we mean it. Crucial for you to understand that data is core to our plans. It “will be the key component for driving innovation at Yahoo.”

5:30 pm: So there’s some insight for you. Now on to strategic-review update. Roy said on last call that BOD considered a lot of alternatives. “It’s important for you to know that the company remains open to anything that’s good for our shareholders.” but we’re “focusing on what appears most promising.” “The work is ongoing, and I won’t say more about that today,” but it’s going to be good for shareholders.

Here’s the takeaway: There’s plenty of opportunity here. “Much bigger than the outside world imagines for us today.”

I’m here because we can do more.

5:32 pm: Alrighty. Q&A time.

Q: Please talk about that Interclick deal. What will they contribute in revenue and earnings? Also, update on revenue per search, please.

Morse: $25M of cost in Q1 from ICLK. $10M in revenue. We expect revenue to ramp throughout the year. As far as RPS increase, Microsoft is doing a nice job, and so are our sales guys.

“We’re definitely closing the gap” when it comes to search. But a reminder that we have a guarantee though March 2013.

Q: On that balance thing: How important will Q&A be here? Big deals in the works? Also, what do you see in macro environment?

Thompson: I think there’s going to be some stuff that we need that we don’t have, and so we’ll probably have to be “aggressive” in the market. “I’m relatively certain that there will be things that interest us” to help us “fill in technology gaps.”

Morse: Europe wasn’t great last quarter, and early indications are the same now. Not expecting much change this quarter, anywhere.

Q: How about a dividend? Also, how do your big principles play into display ad turnaround?

Thompson: “Too early” to imagine dividends. On turning around display: I’ve tried to spend a lot of time trying to figure out our problems there. “We are after that with a very high sense of urgency.” Number-one priority for now.

Q: Also on display. Any sacred cows going forward? Also, on premium video — how are your original series performing?

Thompson: Not sure how to interpret that cow question. “We are understanding and evaluating all options … personally, I’m being very aggressive.”

Morse: Last month, we had nine out of the top 10 original shows in U.S. We don’t give out revenue and pageview and streaming numbers, but “assume healthy growth there.” But more work to be done.

Q: Tim: Please give us more detail on premium display pricing. Scott: You guys made a lot of buzz with that Tom Hanks show announcement. Please discuss economics. Also: Experiment, or prelude to more?

Morse: Like I said, premium display below where we wanted, but it was in the range. And Interclick will make that better.

Thompson: Yeah, that was great buzz at CES. “It was more than the event itself,” everyone had nice things to say. “I was pleasantly surprised.” Not going to share details on dollars. So far, “we’ve had reasonably good success” with the originals we’ve done past.

Q: You talked about doing things Yahoo hasn’t done before. Like what? Also, for Morse: Shouldn’t he be worried about Yahoo’s share on mobile devices?

Thompson: Too early for me talk about strategically what we’re doing.

Morse: On search — yeah, we want to grow our O&O. In terms of mobile share, it’s so early right now. “It’s very intriguing in terms of how we’re going to play.”

But new revenue streams from mobile are even more important than existing ones.

Thompson: Important to point out that “no winner” has shown up yet when it comes to mobility. [Really?]

Thompson: Did I mention data? Let me mention it again. We have tons of it. It’s going to be huge for us. Data and technology can help us predict what users want to do next; it’s a huge advantage for us.

Q: Carol called this a communications company. Terry Semel called it a media company. And you?

Thompson: I had this all-hands meeting, and I said it again today. There’s this long-standing debate here. But “we better be darn good at both. In fact, I think we ought to great.”

Morse: Discussion of financials. Gap between reporter and subject.

Q: You said you’d realign around key areas of focus. But what’s new about that? Are there new verticals? Also, since you’re talking about investing, how does that jibe with operating margin goals?

Thompson: We’re working really hard to evaluate options. “Providing more detail for you today … is just a little bit premature.” “I actually feel a little bit bad” that I can’t tell you more.

“Just a little bit longer, if you will, before we get really specific” on that.

Morse: Yes, we’re going to spend money. But we’re also going to stop those projects, so we can move money around.

Q: On display: Seems like big opportunity to monetize your leftover inventory. Talk about that, please.

Morse: Yep. That’s one reason why we bought Interclick. (Also, theoretically, the reason for this.)

Q: Talk more about Interclick. $10m revenue, $25M costs. But that doesn’t look like what they were doing before you bought them — they had $2M EBITDA per quarter. What’s going on?

Morse: A lot of what they were doing before was related to Yahoo, so we have to eliminate some of that for reporting. Also, we’re building out so we can do more with that. Also, we have to start amortizing intangibles. Also! “This is the first quarter, right out the gate.”

Q: For Scott: You talked about growth before. Can you talk about growth via acquisition, and new business versus growth of existing business? Also, please talk about mobile traffic.

Thompson: I’ve talked to customers. “The conversations were fascinating.” People want us to grow. They also told us “exactly what we have to do to get more of their spend, today.” We can do that. We don’t have to grow solely via M&A. “The really good news is, the customers are there, they’re cheering for us.”

As far as mobile, I haven’t really seen the data. But I’m sure it’s growing really fast. It did at the last business I was at.

Morse: Right.

That’s it, everyone. All done for today.

First look at Yahoo Q4 earnings: Earnings of $0.24 a share on revenues of $1.17 billion. Wall Street was looking for $0.23 and $1.19 billion.

For a look at what investors had been expecting, consult Kara Swisher’s preview from last night. Short version: Not a lot, which is why the CEO spot is now filled by Scott Thompson instead of Carol Bartz.

A few details:

Display revenue is down four percent, which isn’t a huge shock since Yahoo U.S. boss Ross Levinsohn is trying to rebuild the company’s sales force. Plus, he is making some structural changes along the way that might cost it a few sales dollars in the short term, at the very least. But still, it’s worth remembering that for just about everyone on the Web, with the possible exception of AOL, Web advertising is growth business.

Yahoo would also like you to know that its worldwide traffic was up 12 percent, and that page views for its media properties were up seven percent. That’s a good thing, because the core of Yahoo’s pitch to investors and advertisers is “we’re still really, really big, and that’s important.” So if it was shrinking that would be bad.

But unless Yahoo posted some very unusual numbers this afternoon, this report wouldn’t be crucial for Thompson — which is why shares are basically flat in after-hours trading.

Much more interesting will be his first earnings call, where he’ll have the chance to give people his first impressions of his new company: Just how bad are things? Or, if you want to be more positive: How long will it take to turn things around?

I’ll cover that call at 2 pm PT; head here for live coverage.

Yahoo will report its fourth quarter earnings tomorrow, after the markets close, which most expect to be lackluster compared to a year ago.

To call this report a surprise would be, well, wrong.

In fact, it will be the 13th quarter in which the Silicon Valley Internet giant has done worse that the previous year. (This has happened as Internet advertising has boomed for sites like Google and Facebook, as a point of reference.)

Welcome aboard, new CEO Scott Thompson! Now, what are you going to do about it?

Probably cut costs first, including staff, and try to quickly figure out an all-new, this-time-it’ll-take strategery about what to do to turnaround the much beleaguered Yahoo.

But, first, the depressing quarter to deliver again.

The estimates for that weak performance have a range, but the consensus of analysts is expecting revenue to be $1.19 billion on profits of 23 to 24 cents. If Yahoo has managed to rein in costs more than expected, some analysts are hoping for a slightly better report.

Still, all the indications are for more negative signs in user engagement, search share, display advertising stats and more.

Thus, we await the light at the end of the tunnel.

As Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney noted in his cheat-sheet analysis:

“Valuation remains intriguing, but we’re still waiting for convincing Top-Line Turnaround Story Proof. With new CEO Scott Thompson, we believe YHOO will be another wait-and-see turn-around story.”

Of course, much of the action is taking place elsewhere, with the company ferreting away at the deal to sell off a big stake in Yahoo’s Asian assets and also subtracting and adding new board members.

But tomorrow, it’s once more unto the Wall Street breach, dear friends, or close the wall up with our purple dread.

Until the results are in, here’s a recent video I did for WSJ.com’s online Digits show on the possible layoffs at Yahoo:

After the departure of top Yahoo advertising sales exec Seth Dallaire, who decamped to Amazon this week, Yahoo did a little reorganization of its U.S. sales team.

(I promise to stop with the LOLcat images after this one for a while, but it is purrfect.)

Rather than go into the deets, you can just read the internal memo on it from Wayne Powers, SVP of advertising sales for North America:

Team:

These first few weeks of the year have been a phenomenal showing of Yahoo! pride and a clear display of the opportunities we’re poised to capitalize on this year.

In discussions with executives from our 100+ meetings with some of our largest advertisers, agencies, and holding companies at CES, it’s clear we’re changing the dialogue by having a consistent go-to-market strategy: Premium Content Experiences, at Scale, Across Screens; by listening to and engaging with our clients in meaningful ways; and by focusing on digital media and innovation. We were given the top performance rating by one of our Global Agency partners — out of the five media publishers they met with, we were ranked number one based on our continued commitment to providing clarity and consistency in strategy and to strengthening our partnership. Great work everyone!

With that context, there are some changes that I want to announce effective today. Seth Dallaire is leaving Yahoo! to run North American Sales at Amazon. While it’s never easy losing great people, we’re fortunate that he has a very talented team that will carry on the focus and momentum. Please join me in wishing him continued success!

As part of this transition, Mark Ellis will expand his role to take on leadership of the Global Agency and Client Partnership teams. He will continue to lead North American Field Sales.

I’m excited to announce that Peter Foster will to take on leadership duties and will serve as the lead for our partnership with AOL and Microsoft, Interclick, mid-market display, mid-market acquisition sales, and the Channel Reseller team, reporting to me. Peter joined us as part of the acquisition of 5:1 where he served as Chief Revenue Officer, and has a long career in the industry. He previously was SVP sales at ValueClick/Fastclick, one of the biggest ad networks in the world, oversaw revenue at Photobucket after it was acquired by News Corporation, was an early pioneer in the monetization space at L90, and held senior revenue posts at Kosmix and Hi5.

I’m also excited to announce that Marc Grabowski will take on an expanded role and now will head the combined Interclick and mid market sales teams. As part of this new team, Michael Katz, the CEO of Interclick, will lead all sales operations and data and performance optimization for the combined teams. Both Marc and Michael will report to Peter.

We are fortunate to have such a talented team here at Yahoo!. Ross and I are confident that Peter, Mark, and Michael will lead our efforts to change the conversation in this space and industry.

I want to thank everyone for their continued hard work and dedication. We have a great team and a lot to be excited about. We continue to hear feedback from the agencies and clients about our progress, so let’s keep up the focus and energy and deliver on our goals! Please let me or your managers know if you have any questions.

–Wayne

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo has instituted a hiring freeze across the company and is considering a reduction in force in support units of the company.

While the details of any layoffs — which are expected to be small and selective for now — are still being worked out, sources said that the stricture not to fill hundreds of open positions is the first step toward significant cost-cutting initiatives across the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in the wake of what it expects to be another weak quarterly report next week and a looming proxy fight.

Yahoo reports its fourth quarter earnings Tuesday. While the company has managed to improve the results in the last part of the quarter, sources said they will still show continued weakness in its key businesses and consumer usage.

That’s as competitors such as Google and Facebook have been showing significant growth, especially in the display advertising market.

Thus, new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson appears to be zeroing in on costs and managing for margins, said multiple sources, much as his predecessor Carol Bartz did at the start of her tenure.

But many think Yahoo needs even more drastic changes, including massive cuts in staff and also product arenas, to give the company new life.

That includes shifts in leadership at the top levels too. In a major move this week, co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down from the company’s board and all roles there. More directors are expected to leave soon, too.

That will likely come after negotiations to sell part of its lucrative stakes in both the Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan are successfully completed.

While not a certainty, Yahoo’s board hopes that will happen sometime before activist shareholder Daniel Loeb initiates a proxy battle against the company in the coming month.

Sound complex?

It is, and also troubling to Yahoo’s long beleaguered rank and file, who have been worried about more layoffs.

The Yahoo troops have been under intense pressure and have suffered from ongoing attrition. Just yesterday, for example, Yahoo lost one of its top advertising execs, Seth Dallaire, to Amazon.

The company can ill afford such departures of key talent, even as it seeks to pare employee numbers in other parts of its business.

At the end of its last quarter, Yahoo reported that it had 13,700 staffers, down from 14,100 in the previous year.

Yahoo, of course, declined comment.

According to sources, Yahoo has lost one of its top advertising sales execs to Amazon.

Seth Dallaire, who was in charge of Yahoo’s important midmarket advertising accounts unit, will take a newly created role of VP of North America sales at the online commerce giant.

His departure is a blow to Yahoo, especially as it tries to revive its troubled advertising business. The company reports earnings next week, which are expected to show continued weakness in its key business.

The well-regarded Dallaire joined Yahoo in 2009 from Microsoft.

The ad exec told his staff today.

I reached out to Yahoo for comment, but am guessing I will not get one.

Yahoo co-founders David Filo and Jerry Yang

Yes, he jumped, even though being pushed was surely looming on the horizon ahead.

But the decision of Yahoo co-founder, former CEO and director Jerry Yang to leave Yahoo was indeed sudden, with the board meeting just this morning about the issue.

It was so sudden, in fact, that Yahoo’s key execs — including its communications arm — had only a few minutes heads-up to what is arguably one of the more momentous events in the history of the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

In fact, newly installed CEO Scott Thompson was in Los Angeles in a previously planned visit to meet his new staffers, said multiple sources, forcing him to participate in the board meeting from there.

As it turns out, according to numerous sources, Yang had had enough, and had finally realized that perhaps the many players in the ongoing Yahoo drama inside and outside the company had also had enough of him.

As I wrote last week about the possibility of Yang stepping down from the board, such a move of a founder from its board is unusual, although it was possible in this case:

“While Internet company founders usually stick on boards, it’s not a given, especially with all the turmoil at Yahoo, some of which is related to Yang.”

In fact, as the pressure has mounted on Yahoo to right its ever-listing ship, a lot of the rancor was being piled atop Yang, whether deserved or — in some cases — undeserved.

That’s because, even after the rough time he had as CEO of Yahoo, Yang had remained unusually active in its affairs, joining internal meetings and being part of discussions about its strategic alternatives.

And while he might protest that he was doing what was asked of him by the board, his status as the company founder made it hard to minimize his clout.

“It’s hard to ignore Jerry Yang,” said one exec. “He has an impact on everything, even if he thinks he does not.”

The recent negotiations with Yahoo’s Asian partners is a case in point. While board member Brad Smith and others have been a key part of the talks to sell off parts of its stakes there — which are critical to Yahoo to complete — execs at both China’s Alibaba Group and Japan’s SoftBank both pointed to a too-strong influence of Yang in the deal as a possible stumbling block.

Yang served on both the boards of Alibaba and SoftBank’s Yahoo Japan, so his interest would have been obvious. But sources involved in the talks would often blame him for their rocky nature and difficulty.

“Jerry just does not want to sell,” one said to me last week.

Maybe he didn’t or maybe he did, but one thing was clear: Yang had become a lightning rod for a lot of the trouble Yahoo has gotten into over the years.

That was true with major investors, who have been more loudly saying of late to its board that his continued presence was a problem. The most vocal, of course, was Yahoo’s activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, who has called for Yang’s ouster, and has been contemplating a proxy fight to make it so.

Loeb was out in Silicon Valley last week, talking to possible alternate board members, many of whom have been longtime colleagues and even friends of Yang, and took the meeting anyway.

Worse, perhaps, was the prospect that Yang has also been losing his most ardent fan base: Yahoo employees.

With all the mishegas over recent years, they had also begun to question his role as a leader in the company, many voting with their feet by leaving in droves.

With a new CEO in place, and the possible chance that its Asian problems were moving in the right direction, it had to have sunk in for Yang that it had finally become time to make peace with the present by abandoning his future at Yahoo.

Thus, he wanted to leave on his own terms, even if — in the end — the man who is most definitely one of the Internet’s most important pioneers did not have much of a choice.

Yang, who co-founded the Web giant in 1995, got pats on the back from board Chairman Roy Bostock and newly appointed CEO Scott Thompson.

Here’s the press release:

Yahoo! Announces Resignation of Jerry Yang
SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE) – Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced that Jerry Yang has resigned from its Board of Directors and all other positions with the company, effective today. In addition, Yang resigned from the Boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and Alibaba Group Holding Limited, effective today.

In a letter to the Yahoo! Board Chairman Roy Bostock, Yang wrote:

“My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.”

Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995 and as Chief Executive Officer from June 2007 to January 2009. The Company went public in 1996.

“Jerry Yang is a visionary and a pioneer, who has contributed enormously to Yahoo! during his many years of service,” said Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board. “It has been a pleasure to work with Jerry. His unique strategic insights have been invaluable. He has always remained focused on the best interests of Yahoo!’s stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and more than 700 million users. And while I and the entire Board respect his decision, we will miss his remarkable perspective, vision and wise counsel. On behalf of the Board, we thank Jerry and wish him all the very best in his future endeavors.”

Bostock concluded, “We appreciate Jerry’s comments and share his enthusiasm for the company’s prospects. With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo!’s future is bright.”

“I am grateful for the warm welcome and support Jerry provided me during my early days here,” said Scott Thompson, Yahoo!’s Chief Executive Officer. “Jerry leaves behind a legacy of innovation and customer focus for this iconic brand, having shaped our culture by fostering a spirit of innovation that began 17 years ago and continues to grow even stronger today. Jerry has great confidence in the future of Yahoo!, and I share his confidence in the enormous potential of Yahoo! in the days ahead.”

And here are video highlights of what may have been Yang’s last big public appearance before he left his company: An October 19, 2011, interview with Walt Mossberg, along with Yahoo Asia head Rose Tsou, at our AsiaD conference. At the time, he said Yahoo was positioned to become “the premier digital media company.” You can see the whole interview here.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120117/jerry-yang-leaves-yahoo/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120113/facebook-finds-quieter-ways-to-complain-about-googles-search/ http://allthingsd.com/20120113/facebook-finds-quieter-ways-to-complain-about-googles-search/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:40 +0000 Liz Gannes http://allthingsd.com/?p=163511 While Twitter led the charge this week in publicly and unequivocally blasting Google’s new promotion of Google+ in its search results, Facebook stayed quieter.

Well, on the surface, at least. Multiple stories about Google and Facebook’s 2009 failed negotiations over a search deal can clearly be traced back to Facebook.

Facebook says it couldn’t come to terms with Google over how to handle private content; Google says Facebook wanted a clause that would have prevented Google from building its own social service.

Meanwhile, Facebook employees criticized Google’s moves in public status updates. Several prominent Facebookers shared and endorsed a Gizmodo article by Mat Honan about switching his default search engine to Bing after “Google broke itself.”

They included Pedram Keyani, an engineering manager who is a frequent public face of Facebook; Paul Adams, the former Google user experience researcher whose ideas about social circles were famously influential there, but who left for Facebook before Google+ launched; and Joe Lockhart, the former White House press secretary, who is now Facebook’s VP of global communications.

Keyani wrote of the Gizmodo story:

This is a pretty interesting read. Google became something we love because they always focused on speed and giving us the best results. They have made a pretty big departure from that with their most recent change.

They say fear is a great motivator (fear of facebook and twitter) but I think in this case it has also clouded their vision.

Google was my first real fulltime job the direction they are moving in makes me sad. I hope they find their way.

Bing, by the way, did end up signing that 2009 Facebook search deal that Google backed out of — and besides that, Microsoft is an investor in Facebook. Bing passed Yahoo to finally become the second-place U.S. search provider in December.

(Image courtesy of Flickr user thepeachmartini)

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120113/facebook-finds-quieter-ways-to-complain-about-googles-search/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120112/facebook-gives-politico-deep-access-to-users-political-sentiments/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/facebook-gives-politico-deep-access-to-users-political-sentiments/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:02:50 +0000 Liz Gannes http://allthingsd.com/?p=163282 Counting Twitter mentions would have you believe that Ron Paul is the most popular Republican candidate in the ongoing U.S. primaries. Umm, right.

But some social media analysis of politics is going beyond that. A partnership between Facebook and Politico announced today is one of the more far-reaching efforts. It will consist of sentiment analysis reports and voting-age user surveys, accompanied by stories by Politico reporters.

Most notably, the Facebook-Politico data set will include Facebook users’ private status messages and comments. While that may alarm some people, Facebook and Politico say the entire process is automated and no Facebook employees read the posts.

Rather, every post and comment — both public and private — by a U.S. user that mentions a presidential candidate’s name will be fed through a sentiment analysis tool that spits out anonymized measures of the general U.S. Facebook population.

This is similar to the way Google offers reports on search trends based on its users’ aggregate search activities.

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120112/facebook-gives-politico-deep-access-to-users-political-sentiments/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20120112/bing-overtakes-yahoo-claims-title-of-distant-second-in-search/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/bing-overtakes-yahoo-claims-title-of-distant-second-in-search/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:38:38 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=163263 It’s taken a few years and a lot of effort, but Microsoft’s Bing has finally surpassed Yahoo in the U.S. search market. Claiming a 15.1 percent share of the search market in December, Bing topped the 14.5 percent share Yahoo managed, according to data released by comScore.

And that puts Bing in second place behind Google in the market researcher’s search rankings. For the month of December, the search sovereign carved out a nearly 66 percent share of the market.

In other words, the gap between first and second place in search remains massive, and there’s a lot of work yet to be done to narrow it. Even accounting for the “Powered by Bing” results of Microsoft’s chimeric partner-rival Yahoo, Bing still had only a 26.5 percent share.

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