by Head of Search
Andrew Girdwood
Yahoo's stock price has risen and fallen on the back of Susan Decker news. The search portal's CFO now has a hugely significant role.Andrew Girdwood
At the start of December Yahoo announced a major re-shuffle of their corporate structure. Re-shuffle is a kind word for the dramatic overhaul which resulted in the Chief Financial Officer's responsibilities mushroom and role placed very near that of CEO Terry Semel.
Decker was placed so strategically that many observers, including Wall Street analysts, assumed she was being lined up to replace the 63 year old Semel. Although Terry Semel is not expected to leave Yahoo any time soon, the market remains nervous about the search portal and some have publicly questioned whether a "bean-counter at the helm" has the "marketing passion" required for the increasingly demanding role. Yahoo's stocks are notably down from their all-time high and are down over 30% from the start of the year.
Analysts have been wrong about Susan Decker before, infamously so. In response to a revenue forecast from Decker, the taunt, "If Yahoo made its number, it would snow at Yahoo's headquarters in Sunnyvale," (California) is attributed to have come from Lanny Baker of Salomon Smith Barney. Yahoo made the numbers and Decker is reported to have turned up to a meeting carrying snow brought in from Tahoe.
Semel, for one, believes Decker's talents extend beyond the fiscal realms. He wrote, "An expert on far more than financials, Sue has been a terrific contributor to our business strategy,"
Rob Solomon left Yahoo in January of this year to join travel search engine SideStep where is he is currently President and CEO. The Ledger quotes Solomon saying, "Sue Decker is absolutely brilliant," and "I think it's wonderful to have her brain power thinking about more than finances."
Two weeks after Solomon left Yahoo for SideStep, SideStep announced that it would be powering the travel search engine on Amazon. Decker has a track record for similar alliances and is credited for the partnership between eBay and Yahoo. Yahoo providers advertising on eBay's US site.
Search engine optimization companies are also well aware of Susan Decker. Decker was one of the voices in the chorus which encouraged Yahoo to return to its role as a search engine and search results provider. Decker was there as Yahoo bought the Inktomi search engine and pay-per-click engine Overture.
Yahoo has a lot to do on the search front. The search engine's new pay-per-click platform, known as Panama, is merely a new born in the States and unknown to many EMEA SEO agencies and businesses. Yahoo has struck deals with the likes of laptop manufacturer Acer so that their software is pre-installed on their machines but Google has more powerful deals with PC giant Dell. Yahoo sees the future in the convergence of Web and Entertainment but it is Google who are testing Audio Adverts and have the YouTube battle to win. Ask's market share continues to edge forward. Microsoft are determined to win ground in Search.
How great is Susan Decker? It is likely that 2007 will be the year that Yahoo find out.
