Inside Yahoo! Reinvention and the Road Ahead [Hardcover]

Karen Angel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

An intriguing look at an Internet pioneer and global powerhouse
Reaching sixty percent of all Net users, Yahoo! is one of the most popular Internet portals and one of the most successful companies in the world today. Inside Yahoo! takes readers on a fascinating journey through the thoughts and motivations behind the company. Revealing stories of on-again, off-again management, the race for innovation, and the constant focus on survival, this book will engage readers on many different levels. With access to Yahoo's top executives, author Karen Angel describes the complementary, but different styles that have made Yahoo! one of the few surviving business models in the struggling Internet sector. An informed and astute narrative traces the company's transformation from a twenty-something brainstorm to a sophisticated community to a onetime Wall Street darling that managed to ride-out the recent market shakeout. Along the way, readers will follow in the steps and missteps of this unique company and see how it keeps reinventing itself to keep ahead of a changing marketplace.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an accessible, interesting read for anybody interested in the story of one of the companies that shaped the internet as we know it today..." (www.freepint.com - Featured Book, 5 September 2002)

"...anyone who reads this book through...would benefit greatly from their enhanced knowledge of the subject..." (M2 Best Books, 11 September 2002)

From the Inside Flap

As both an Internet pioneer and an Internet survivor, Yahoo! is one of the most recognizable brands both inside and outside the online world. From its extensive content and e-commerce offerings to its innovative marketing tactics and strategic partnerships, Yahoo! has continuously proven itself a master of reinvention and sustainability in the fast-paced Internet world.

Inside Yahoo!: Reinvention and the Road Ahead takes you on a fascinating journey through the thoughts, motivations, struggles, and triumphs that have brought Yahoo! to where it is today. Revealing stories of brilliant deals and missed opportunities, the race for innovation, and the constant focus on survival, this book offers a rare inside look at the company and its corporate culture. With access to key players as well as industry experts and financiers, business journalist Karen Angel:
* Examines how two Stanford graduate students established the premier Internet global brand in just a few short years
* Profiles the company's leaders-from cofounders Jerry Yang and David Filo to CEO Terry Semel, COO Jeff Mallett, and Director Tim Koogle
* Addresses Yahoo!'s recent focus on developing premium services and establishing itself as a bona fide media company

Through an informed and astute narrative, Inside Yahoo! traces the company's transformation from a twenty-something brainstorm to a onetime Wall Street darling that managed to ride out the recent market shakeout. You'll read firsthand accounts of how the combination of gifted management, strategic acquisitions, brand leadership, and a long-standing history of service innovation and partnerships has helped Yahoo! through volatile economic environments.

Filled with insights from those who have lived through the Yahoo! experience, Inside Yahoo! is an inspirational story that offers valuable business lessons every investor, manager, and entrepreneur should take to heart-from maintaining a brand identity that everyone will recognize to continuously reinventing your focus to keep ahead of a changing marketplace.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471007935
• ISBN-13: 978-0471007937
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A competent job, but lacks real insight, November 24, 2002

By 

Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Yahoo! Reinvention and the Road Ahead (Hardcover)

Like many other writers about technology companies, Karen Angel has simply read a lot of newspaper and magazine articles about the company, interviewed some knowledgeable outsiders (key insiders did not cooperate with her) and organized the resulting material in chronological sequence. If, like I, you are interested in learning the basic facts about Yahoo!, this book will suffice, but don't expect anything in the way of new revelations or searching analysis.

What comes across is a group of relatively bright young computer nerds who happened to be in the right place at the right time, decided that they were the Christ, and imploded from their own greed and hubris, professing all the while their personal integrity. Urrrppp!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting history, maybe a bit dusty., November 11, 2005

By 

Jeremy Wadhams (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inside Yahoo! Reinvention and the Road Ahead (Hardcover)

This book is basically the history of the 500 lb gorilla of the dot-com debacle. It follows Yahoo! from its birth in a Stanford trailer up through the pits of despair in late 2001.

I personally learned quite a bit about the forces that shaped this "walking contradiction" of a company. For me (as a geek) the most interesting part was the history of what technologies and services have been rolled into the Yahoo! brand, including early plays into VoIP as far back as 1998 and Yahoo!'s short fling with adult content.

Lost a star for the (I felt) boring profusion of financial figures every few pages. Yes, the difference between GAAP and pro-forma reporting blah blah and stock rating by Bleedle and Blarney was changed fom zzzzz.... Some of this pure finance speak is obviously necessary to the story, since a lot of the action pivots on economic calamity. It just seemed that the book occasionally became the history of YHOO the stock instead of Yahoo! the company.

For "ancient history" (in Internet time) the book is a great resource. I'll still need something to fill in the gap between the ending of this book (the expectation at end of 2001 that Yahoo! would die, become irrelevant, or get acquired) through modern times. But taken for what it is, it's a handy reference.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative but lacks analysis, January 4, 2003

By 

Prashanth Kumar (MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Yahoo! Reinvention and the Road Ahead (Hardcover)

The author has used her sources effectively to delineate the Intenet boom and its subsequent fall, by describing Yahoo's growth from a Stanford trailer into a media company. She has captured the frenzy of the late 90's and takes the reader through the numerous accquisitions and investments in Silicon Valley. At the same time the book is an overkill with the excessive information provided and at times reads like an encyclopaedia with figures thrown in liberally. The fact that Yahoo hasn't cooperated with the author is evident in several places. Overall its a good read