brad-garlinghouse

Insidious exodus dynamic grips Yahoo

Nicholas Carlson · 07/03/08 12:00PM

When Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang became CEO last year, BusinessWeek found a senior executive to anonymously sing his praises. "I was so wrong," that source now tells the magazine. "This thing can be saved, but not by the current management team." That executive is now gone from the company — our money is on BusinessWeek's source being the ever-chatty Brad Garlinghouse. Plenty of Yahoos are trying to join him. One tech recruiter said he gets several Yahoo resumes a day. Even if Yahoo turned itself around, the appearance that Yahoo is a sinking ship likely already outweighs reality, said Stanford behavioralist Roderick Kramer: "Once there is even a perception of an exodus, the dynamic becomes insidious and takes on a life of its own." (Photo by Misserion)

Who's moving up, moving out or on the fence at Yahoo

Nicholas Carlson · 06/20/08 11:00AM

Yahoo CEO-in waiting Sue Decker continues to push the company through yet another reorganization. An her minions aren't happy about it. One told Kara Swisher: “I am not sure right now, with all this drama and all this tension from Microsoft’s failed takeover and the rest of it, why we have to do this. This feels crazy.” We figure the best way to do this is rip the band-aid off and move on. So below, who's in, who's up and who's out in quick and dirty bullet points.

Who will replace Jeff Weiner at Yahoo?

Owen Thomas · 06/11/08 05:00PM

If Jeff Weiner, head of Yahoo's search, community, and media properties, leaves the company, who's left to run things? An outside hire seems unlikely, Michael Arrington points out, given Carl Icahn's fight with the Yahoo board. That leaves a battlefield promotion for one of Weiner's direct reports, shown here from left to right: Brad Garlinghouse, Scott Moore, Vish Makhijani, and Tapan Bhat. Here's our handicapping of this horserace:

At OutCast CEO Dinner, Robert Scoble greeted us warmly

Owen Thomas · 06/06/08 04:20AM

FERRY BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO — Let's be clear: Local PR firm OutCast's CEO Dinner event Thursday night wasn't really a dinner — most people ate standing up. Nor were there many CEOs. (I counted one: Jim Louderback of Revision3.) It's a far cry from years past where the decimated post-bubble survivors of San Francisco's tech press corps would gather in a room and listen to OutCast clients like Gordon Eubanks of Oblix, a salty former submarine officer, utter zingers about the wonders of Viagra. OutCast is a sizable firm now, and it's got big clients like Facebook and Yahoo. But Mark Zuckerberg? Jerry Yang? Nowhere to be seen. Instead, you had a hall full of hacks and flacks. I wonder how many of them shook videoblogger Robert Scoble's hand? Photo gallery after the jump:

Valleywag spots secret Yahoo conclave at D6

Owen Thomas · 05/28/08 08:20PM

CARLSBAD, CA — On stage at D6, Sue Decker couldn't offer any explanation why she was qualified to be president of Yahoo. But if you ask Valleywag, she's doing a bang-up job of pursuing Yahoo's strategy of embracing openness. For example, by holding a meeting within camera-lens length of Valleywag in the Four Seasons Lobby Lounge. Our eye was first drawn by Yahoo Media Group chief Scott Moore's blindingly colorful Madras shirt; we then saw he was sitting with Decker. Two of the other participants: Gordon McLeod and Matthew Goldberg, business-side executives at Dow Jones, which means they were likely discussing some kind of news-content partnership between Yahoo and the Wall Street Journal. I'd thought I spooted Brad Garlinghouse, the Yahoo executive who wrote the famous "Peanut Butter Memo," in the group, but I'm told he wasn't there. I later spotted him strolling down the halls with Yahoo board member Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision. More pictures of the meeting:

Does your VC have a Democrat in his pocket?

Nicholas Carlson · 01/23/08 05:20PM

Senator Clinton polls higher than Senator Obama in Santa Clara County, 43 percent to 27 percent, a Clinton campaign staffer told the Wall Street Journal. But we know what really counts in Silicon Valley: money. And when it comes to raising cash, Barack Obama's winning over the tech crowd. He raised about $500,000 just last weekend at a breakfast in Atherton. Wondering who was there? Here's a list of known Silicon Valley supporters for each candidate.

The Garlinghouse family takes over Yahoo

Owen Thomas · 12/27/07 03:20PM

Brad Garlinghouse, the controversial Yahoo executive who won fame by accusing management of spreading investments around like a "thin layer of ... peanut butter", has a sister, Meg, who also works at the company. Who got whom the job at Yahoo is a matter of testy debate. What's undebatable: the brother-and-sister duo practically own Yodel Anecdotal, the company blog, this month. Three full posts are devoted to their glories.

Yahoos and hacks clutter The Lobby

Megan McCarthy · 10/25/07 06:24PM

Really, we're confounded. David Hornik's Lobby conference is ostensibly an invite-only affair. But some of the attendees had us scratching our head. Spotted, Yahoo's Bradley Horowitz, Brad Garlinghouse and Kiersten Hollars enjoying some sun instead of participating in Jerry Yang's 100-day turnaround of the company. Then there's Jessica Livingston and Paul Graham from Y Combinator. There's nary a 22-year-old wantrepreneur in sight, so what's the draw of this conference for them? Other inexplicables: Kara Swisher from AllThingsD, and TechCrunch heavyweight Michael Arrington, two notoriously gossipy hacks. Wasn't this event supposed to be off the record? And does Arrington even know what that means? (Photo by bradley23)

Yahoo and Facebook execs MIA at OutCast party

Megan McCarthy · 10/12/07 06:07PM


OutCast PR held an AfterHours party at Frisson, the restaurant co-owned by Facebook board member Peter Thiel. So cozy, since Facebook is OutCast's biggest new client! The place was overrun with hacks and flacks. No surprise, since OutCast wants to show off its chummy press relationships, and other flacks are drawn to journalists like moths to flames. And, of course, OutCast wanted to keep things well-staffed to watch over reporters chatting up executives from Facebook and Yahoo, another big OutCast client. No need, it turned out.

What Yahoo's Jerry Yang is really thinking

Owen Thomas · 08/23/07 11:21AM

AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, tired of playing ambush journalist with her handheld videocamera, tries her hand at pretending to be Dan Lyons, the fabulous Forbes fabulist behind "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs." Sort of. Except here, she's Fake Jerry Yang, a faux version of Yahoo's CEO, not Fake Steve Jobs The best bit comes when Swisher imagines Yang's reaction to Brad Garlinghouse, the controversial Yahoo executive who called for major changes in what's now called "The Peanut Butter Memo."

Why Yahoo won't pay your bills

Owen Thomas · 07/06/07 11:20AM

Another one of Yahoo's sprawling properties has gotten the axe: Come mid-September, Yahoo Bill Pay is shutting down. You didn't even know Yahoo let you pay your bills? Exactly. The service, notable when it launched for undercutting banks' online bill-payment fees, has become outmoded. Almost all banks now offer free Web bill payments. And Yahoo, spurred by gadfly executive Brad Garlinghouse's now-famous peanut butter memo, is trying to pare down its offerings to products where its vast user base actually gives it an advantage, like social media. Even so, while a smart business move, the shutdown is equally a sign of Yahoo's diminished ambitions. Barely able to manage itself, Yahoo can hardly be expected to manage your finances.

Rumor mill: Craig's movin' on up

Nick Douglas · 05/11/06 01:47PM
  • Craig "Lemme guess, you got your couch through Craigslist. You're welcome" Newmark cryptically thanks Bank of America for the two CDs worth $22 mil. Is this some clever West Wing allusion, or did Craig just deposit, like, two days' wages? [Craigblog]