Mark Cuban: Yahoo Screwed Because Jerry Is "Too Nice" (YHOO)

Eric Krangel | October 29, 2008 2:00 PM

mark-cuban-tongue.jpgMark Cuban, who milked Yahoo (YHOO) for $4.6 billion in 1999 for Broadcast.com, never ended up on Yahoo's board after he was nominated on the Carl Icahn slate. But that's not stopping him from opining on Yahoo's problems.

Yahoo could have put up a better fight against Google (GOOG), Cuban says, but Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is "too nice" to get in a scrap.

Via Bloomberg:

``Jerry's too nice a guy. He cares too much,'' Cuban said. ``Sometimes, when a competitor like Google comes along, you've got to get mean and you've got to get tough...

"They've got a lot of avenues they could take but all of them depend on being a lot meaner and a lot more aggressive and that's just not their style"

Cuban didn't elaborate on just what "mean" things Yang needed to do to stay competitve. Yahoo's employees, 1500 of whom will be laid off sometime in the next few months, probably don't think of Yang as "too nice." But then, maybe they should: By our math, Yahoo should shed 3000 positions.

See Also:
Meet Carl Icahn's Yahoo Board: Icahn, Frank Biondi, Mark Cuban, Seven More
Mark Cuban's Gutsy Call: Newspapers Are Doomed

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14 Comments

happyhappy said:
mark has it wrong - nice people are self-sacrificing and as jerry has shown throughout the year he is anything but self-sacrificing.

yahoo's problem isn't that jerry is nice but rather that he is incompetent, immature and self-centered. how else can you explain someone so willing to destroy so much value for his shareholders and his employees without a viable alternative to growth? he's bent over backwards to carve out a path for yahoo which delivers no results apart from certain employment for himself...sounds like an a**hole to me...
Shawn (URL) said:
Jerry Yang is a stock flop...lol


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clickbot said:
Yang is a special olympian who won the lottery.
Jerry Yang is an idiot said:
HAPPYHAPPY GOT IT RIGHT!
FireMeSueDecker said:
And, because they have an unqualified exec with zero vision as president. Sue may have been an ok CFO but has not demonstrated a drop of dexterity in running Search, Panama, Yahoo Publisher Network, or anything else for that matter.

She must be fired!
smartone said:
Hey Jerry bought Mark's Broadcast.com for 5.7 billion -- yeah I think you can say Jerry is too nice
Clyde McPhat said:
All of us know that Mr. Cuban was a month or two away from being a much poorer internet guru way back when....but we digress.

Henry...what would have happened to the deal IF Jerry had accepted the Ballmer money at the time for the price, and then the market cratered? Would the deal have had to be restructured? And If so, the fair price would have been what?


Because whatever you think the fair price is now should be what the Chief Yahoo goes to Seattle and tries to get right now....
Greg said:
Get on the phone Jerry. Just don't come back trying to sell shareholders with a deal where Yahoo is denuded of its as-principal search function, & you're telling us we're going to be a 'display powerhouse'. Don't lash our fortunes to the hopeless AOL. Just come back with a clean offer at $20 or above.
pumper said:
mark cuban, the con artist, is giving out business advice? no thanks, not if you want to run your business into the ground.
WayOver said:
Buffett said great company is a company that can be run by an idiot CEO ... Yahoo is not great because of so many idiots in the entire
management chain (top to bottom). Eg. hotjobs
execs running banner ads division. The Ari CTO guy is all hot air, and no presence. Sue President is busy with networking for her own good.
Neek said:
This is a guy who turned down $31 (oh wait, was that $33 and they didn't know?) from Microsoft in selfish self-interest without regard for shareholders. And Cuban (and you agreed) thinks he's nice?

Not sure whose more foolish, the fool or the fools who agree with him. (And I don't mean fool as in fool.com)
Do This More said:
Another day of the same BS as yesterday and the day before that x infinity + 1.
Great said:
Motorola is rumored to be hiring Risque, the sexy advertising agency to handle the PR during the leadership transition.

adtech ile reklam 2.0 dönemi başlıyor ve Trkycmhrytllbtpydrklcktr r10.net seo yarışması
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