If Yahoo is to succeed, then Marissa Mayer must do what Steve Jobs did when he returned to Apple in the 1990's: come up with the brilliant new product (as the iPod was for Apple) that saves the company.

Nicholas Carlson says the Yahoo Board was short-sighted in not giving Marissa as much cash as possible to work with:

There is nothing wrong – morally, ethically, strategically, legally – with Loeb and the Yahoo's board decision to suck Yahoo dry of cash, leaving Mayer with about a $1 billion to work with instead of about ~$4 billion. (Yahoo would have more total cash in either case, but Mayer wouldn't be able to spend it all.)

Loeb got on the board after launching a proxy fight last fall and winning it in the Spring. He put a bunch of his allies on the board. It was a fair fight, and he won. To the victor go the spoils.

It is just odd that Loeb would make the short term cash grab and handicap Mayer in the process after hiring her because he thinks she is a product visionary who will turn Yahoo into something much more over the long term.

And Mayer probably is feeling a little screwed over because of it. It also makes you wonder who is really in charge at Yahoo.

The silver lining for Mayer is that there is a way for her to add about another $2 billion to $3 billion to her cash pile, if she plays her cards right.

I don't share the belief that $4 billion would help Yahoo more than $1 billion.

No startup in Silicon Valley's history has started with $1 billion to work with.

If Yahoo's new invention cannot be found in the first $1 billion of work, then it's very likely it cannot be found by Yahoo, and they shouldn't burn more money trying.

Less money = More focus

agree

They should make a smart phone/tablet for older people. My mom already thinks Yahoo! is the internet. Larger icons, make all the apps use the same TOS that way people only have to agree once and it makes installation of apps easier. Heavily limit the amount of options in the app store.

If one of the main goals of technology is to reach non-tech people it would be a good place to start.