Reader Q&A with Carol

Posted May 27th, 2009 at 10:26 am by Nicki Dugan, Blog Editor

 7 Comments / Filed in: Conferences/Events

As I hit publish, Carol Bartz, our CEO, is taking the stage at the seventh annual D: All Things Digital conference for a conversation with Kara Swisher. Since she’ll also be taking questions from the audience, we thought we’d do our own version of an audience Q&A. We had a chance to quickly sit down with Carol to ask some of the questions submitted by Yodel Anecdotal readers. Big thanks to contributors and apologies to those whose thoughtful questions remain on the cutting room floor — her calendar is like a NY subway at rush hour.

If you want a recap of Carol’s D discussion, check out our Twitter stream — we’re attempting live updates. And check back here later today for photos and video highlights.

1. BrandonWIFI: Now that you have been on board long enough what was your biggest surprise in terms of what Yahoo! is good at and what was your biggest disappointment?

I’m most surprised by how good Yahoo! is at connecting people to their worlds. I hadn’t realized that half of the Net users in the world come to Yahoo! every month, and that more people spend time on our site every month than any other site in the US. That’s huge. And my biggest disappointment is that although we have all these wonderful sites – like being #1 in eleven categories – we really didn’t focus enough on what we were good at. The company was easily distracted – it’s really about focus.

2. Joe Lazarus (San Francisco): My Question: If you had to choose, what is the one specific thing that Yahoo! can and will do better than any other company in the world… the one thing that you would like consumers to instantly associate with the Yahoo! brand and the products you create… not something broad and all encompassing like “the starting point” or “excellence”, but rather one specific core competency. Some examples from other companies might include: Google = Search, eBay = Auctions, Facebook = Friend Connections, Amazon = Customer Service. All of these companies do many things well, but they each have clear strengths in one clearly defined area. What do you see as Yahoo!’s one thing either today or in the future?

I’m so glad you asked this question because it’s something we’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Yahoo! means a lot of things to a lot of people – whether you’re a student, a working mom, a business owner, what have you. We’ve essentially got something for everyone. And that’s made it tough to really define Yahoo! and what makes us unique. But as we see it, Yahoo! is the place where millions of people come every day to see what is happening with the people and the things that matter most to them. That could mean what’s happening in the world — like breaking news, sports scores, stock quotes, last night’s TV highlights — and your world — like your email, photos, groups, fantasy leagues. Based on what we know about you, we’re unique in how well we can bring you both those worlds. So I think our clear strength is “relevance” – whether that means knowing what weather to give you or serving up headlines you’ll be interested in. It’s all about really getting you and we have more work to do in that area.

3. AMS (United Kingdom): What job is Jerry Yang now doing within the company?

Jerry still has his sleeves rolled up. He spends a ton of time with our product teams and is fantastic with our advertising customers. In fact, he’s been spending a lot of time on the road in the last few months, meeting with clients and discussing how we can work better with them. And, of course, he’s got a really big brain, which is incredibly helpful to me personally. He was really supportive as I came on board and we talk regularly about the company’s future and what needs to change. Working with founders isn’t a new concept for me –- when I joined Autodesk, there were eight of them!

4. AMS (United Kingdom): What is Steve Ballmer really like to negotiate with?

Sorry, I’m not going to touch that one. Maybe you should ask the aQuantive guys.

5. AMS, United Kingdom: Do you think the economic downturn is still getting worst, and will drag on for long time yet. (There does seem to be more adverts on yahoo the last month or so that is am seeing as customer, so is good for your company).

I don’t think the downturn is getting worse. But it’s not getting better at this point.

6. Aaditya Bhatia (San José, CA): This is from one of the biggest fans of Yahoo!. Google is on its way to taking over the world. What is your killer plan to save our Yahoo! and our planet?

Bottom line is we have to make Yahoo! just a terrific site for people around the world to come to –- and come back to. What most people don’t realize is that only 5% of the time people spend on the Internet is spent searching. That means 95% of the time, people are doing something else … reading, sharing, connecting, researching, watching, discovering, having fun, killing time. The better our products are and the more they help you live your life, the more likely you are to visit us again and again. And that’s what we’re focused on. But I also want to point out that Yahoo! is already really strong company –- I think with the backdrop of the last year or so, that’s gotten lost in the shuffle. We’re number one or two in about 25 categories and we reach one in every two people who go online. Not to mention that we have billions in the bank, no debt, and enviable operating cash flow in a tough economy. I don’t think that describes a company in need of “being saved.” As for the planet, we all have to work together to save it.

7. David Smith (Portland, Oregon): What is the most important user experience factor for Yahoo’s future success and why (for example accessibility, deep personalization, open data, or real-time relevance like Twitter/Facebook)?

Like I said earlier, relevance is really our secret sauce… to what’s happening with people and things that matter to you most. That means we’re either letting you personalize what you see on Yahoo! (although we know no one wants to work too hard at doing that these days) or using what we know about to surface things that match what you care about.

8. bAbel: With the newspaper industry suffering, if newspapers go down, which would affect AP and the wires, would that affect Yahoo!? If so, how?

I’m not going to speculate on the future of newspapers, but we’re obviously focused on making the best, high-quality news content available to people wherever they want to access it. With people turning more often to the Internet for news, we know that journalism will thrive online, regardless of how business models ultimately evolve. On that note, our 800 newspaper partners in the Newspaper Consortium are focused on growth and innovation, vs the doom and gloom hanging over the industry. They’re seeing revenue grow online and that’s influencing a seminal shift in their cultures and how they do business.

9. Miramon: Revenues and profits have been decreasing. Regardless of the reasons for the downturn, what is your plan for making Yahoo a vital and profitable company?

Yahoo! is already a vital and profitable company. We’re all suffering from the downturn but, frankly, we less than many companies.

10. Jen: which yahoo products do you use the most and why?

I spend most of my time on our homepage to see what’s happening in the world, Yahoo! Mail for email, and Yahoo! Finance to keep an eye on the markets.

11. Kathy (San Francisco): It’s graduation season at high schools and universities….If you were delivering a graduation speech this year, what would your key messages be to the graduates?

For the kids graduating from high school and going on to college, I would tell them to study hard, play hard, and pick good friends. Don’t hang with losers. For college grads, I would remind them that they have, for the most part, at least 40 years ahead of them to work, so they have a long time to make their way. And in the environment their facing, they need to be creative because I will guarantee that after this downturn, there will be an upturn.

12. AMS (United Kingdom): What is favourite way to spend a weekend.

Family, gardening and golf.

13. Kathy (San Francisco): If this chapter of your leadership had a soundtrack, what would it be and why?

Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

14. Miramon: Do you agree that Parmesan is truly the king of cheeses?

Yes. And by the way, pasta is just a carrier for Parmesan.

Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

Tagged: carol bartz

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7 Comments Add your own

Lorenzo | May 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

No offense but there are some questions that people threw out there that were oddball and they got selected, yet mine wasn’t. I see…so a good question is given the boot but the soundtrack and cheese questions were let in? Could it have been for fun? Sure.

Why even bother submitting a question to a company CEO few people get to ask a question to and then give her something that is as relevant to her job as a fortunate cookie is to making lotto picks? I sure hope the selection was random because people’s questions to her sure seemed to be.

I give up Yahoo, I give up.

Miramon | May 28th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

I’m pleased that Ms. Bartz answered those questions of mine, but frankly I thought the answer to my first question was a bit weak. Yes, the company is not losing money at the moment, so it is, I suppose, profitable, but the numbers have been going down for some years, and there have been multiple layoff rounds. Neither of those things is associated in my mind with a “vital” company.

But of course we agree on Parmesan, and that’s the important thing.

BTW, Lorenzo, my cheese question was sardonic, posed because I thought the very idea of soliciting questions like that was somewhat offensive, and because “what’s your favorite cheese” was given as an example question in the original solicitation.

Albo P. Fossa | June 3rd, 2009 at 12:06 pm

I’ve seen this story: http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoos-bartz-says-no-to-microsoft-deal-trashes-bing-2009-6

I’m in the minority (I suspect) hoping Yahoo! DOES NOT sell out its search enterprise to Microsoft. My question: what enterprises is Yahoo! *most likely* to maintain – that is, *not* sell? Email? Web hosting? Answers? (Any others?)

Isaac Safdie | June 8th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

I think your company is incompetent and I’m sure you won’t respond to this comment. If you did, I wouldn’t be able to access it because last week you BLOCKED access to my mail by demanding a new password and new security questions.

When I called this evening to get some assistance, I was hung up on four times.

I’m waiting for your reply.

Isaac Safdie | June 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

I guess this is the level of customer service you’re accustomed to providing.

The cowardly way. Just like your service reps that kept giving me lame excuses as to why there were no supervisors, hanging up on me and when I asked if the a/c verification department was going to be closed, I was LIED to by Irene, whose command of the English language leaves so much to the imagination.

I guess I’ll just have to keep pestering you until someone with honesty and integrity replies.

Isaac Safdie | June 8th, 2009 at 6:19 pm

Well, I have more important things to do with my life tha wait for your reply.

Now I know why Google trounces you so thoroughly and why Microsoft backed away from a deal.

steve ferris | August 8th, 2009 at 12:53 pm

Yahoo has the worst customer service.Been trying for 9 days to get my e-mail fixed with no luck.BAD BAD BAD SERVICE