Comments on: Split Up Yahoo?

By: JoeDuck

JoeDuck — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:55:00 +0000

FG valuation stuff is a part of the game I’ve never understood well, and skepticism is always called for if somebody suggests things are worth more than they are selling for.

It’s not at all a clear, mathematical, clean thing. Some investment theory says a company should be valued on it’s long term dividend potential, but companies like Microsoft have maintained huge value long term without distributions – instead they reinvest profits and in theory boost their value in that fashion, which investors obtain when they sell out.

By: Fools Gold

Fools Gold — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:29:21 +0000

Frankly I don’t know how to value the individual parts much less value their sum. Much depends on management’s views and management’s emphasis.

Yahoo has been falling short and when others have not been falling short, it seems to be a management failure. I don’t know if throwing in the towel on search is the right thing to do. It would seem to be unwise.

Perhaps the fundamental problem is not how to value the separate functions but how to view them and prioritize them.
Search, portal, content creator, content aggregator, … what?