Is now make or break for Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer?
Yahoo’s stock is down, and shareholders are demanding change.
The company scheduled a third-quarter earnings call which means it’s make-or-break for CEO Marissa Mayer.
“She’s had two years and the strategies put in place have not worked,” says Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group.
One of those strategies that Wieser says hasn’t worked? Buying up more than a dozen other companies.
“Well, the problem is they bought the wrong ones,” he says.
Wieser says Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr has yet to pay off. Investors also want to know what Yahoo will do with profits on the sale of Alibaba stock, and how to save money on taxes. And they also want to know how Yahoo will compete with Facebook and Google.
“They could build original content. They could build and invest into the underlying technology for display advertisements. They could acquire a company that has success in mobile,” says Colin Gillis, a senior technology analyst at BGC Partners.
Gillis says shareholders will give Mayer another six months or so to prove she can turn Yahoo around.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
