Yahoo!

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Rebecca Baruch

Rebecca Baruch

: Source: Bizjournals, Yahoo! Logo [20]

“We make the
world’s daily habits inspiring
and entertaining”

– Yahoo! Inc. [26]

Source: Yahoo!, CEO, Marissa Mayer [21]

YAHOO! INC.~ WHO WE ARE

Yahoo! Inc. is a technology company that provides a variety of services for its online users. It was founded by Stanford University graduates and classmates, Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994. It became incorporated later in 1995. A year later, in April 1996, it became a publicly traded company [1]. Since then Filo has stayed on as one of the company’s key executives, returning to its Board of Directors in 2014 [2].

Its current CEO, Marissa Mayer, who stepped into the position in 2012, worked previously at Google as one of its executives and helped develop many of its popular services like Google Maps and Gmail. She is the sixth person to take over the position of Yahoo! Inc.’s CEO since 2007 [3].

A majority of Yahoo! Inc.’s profits are gained not through subscriptions or payments from its users but rather through selling advertisement space on its various websites [4].

Source: Youtube, Yahoo! Commercial [29]

Yahoo! Inc.’s international presence reaches users in over fifty countries worldwide. Some of their main services include Yahoo! Search, an Internet search engine to help navigate users through online data and websites. It also has original and partnered content on services like Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! TV [5].

Source: Flickr, Flickr Logo [22] Source: Tumblr, Tumblr Logo [23]

It also acquires smaller online enterprises in order to boost their research and reach on the ever-growing web. Back in June 2013 the company bought the popular blog website, Tumblr for $1.1 billion [6]. Yahoo! Inc. also has had, Flickr, the popular photo-managing site since 2005 [7]. These types of acquisitions were not only meant to increase profits, but to also understand the mindset and lifestyle of their users [6].

YAHOO! INC.~ Financials

This past third-quarter revealed that Yahoo! Inc.’s revenue was $1.23 billion. Last year’s quarter the company accumulated $1.15 billion in revenue [8]. Despite the increase in revenue, the company did not reach expected targets as they were predicted to make $1.26 billion in revenue this quarter. As well, rather than reaching $0.17 per share, the company ended up being valued at less than $0.10 per share. Yahoo! Inc.’s underperformance this quarter is disappointing to its potential investors and current stakeholders [9].

Source: Alibaba, Alibaba Logo [24]

Yahoo! Inc. holds a 15% stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which is an e-commerce company that provides services such as an online shopping search engine and electronic payments for businesses and customers. Alilbaba Group Holding Ltd.’s stock value has dropped 38.7% this past year. Yahoo! Inc. came up with a recovery plan to sell shares from their investment, but that will unlikely be implemented. Recently, the IRS rejected a deal Yahoo! Inc. was planning on making that would spin-off 384 million shares [10].

Source: Google, Google Logo [25]

Yahoo! Inc. struck up a deal with Google this past October that will last until 2018. Google will be providing Yahoo! Inc. with search advertisements. Google will then give Yahoo! Inc. a percentage of the revenue earned. Google will also disclose web search results and other data from users to Yahoo! Inc. to benefit its market research [11]. This information can be accessed from a variety of devices including, but not limited to, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. This non-exclusive deal still allows Yahoo! Inc. to work with other companies such as Microsoft, who they have worked with in the past. This deal will hopefully boost the company’s profits and help it have a greater understanding of its users [12].

YAHOO! INC.~ Leadership

Source: Business Insider, Marissa Mayer [27]

Much of Yahoo! Inc.’s financial difficulties have been attributed to the leadership style of the company. Its latest CEO, Marissa Mayer, has been suffering from a lot of criticism. This new CEO came aboard, knowing that she would have to fix a company that was dealing with a problematic system. She is seen as an inspirational figure for women in a predominately male dominated industry [13]. Over the years Mayer has come under fire for controversial policies and personal decisions. Overall, she uses her knowledge of the business, is the youngest CEO in history to run a Fortune 500 company and has a youthful perspective she uses to try and turn around Yahoo! Inc. in all of its failing sectors [14].

Source: CNN, Marissa Mayer [14]

Mayer’s decisions have not benefited Yahoo! Inc. in the way that she intentioned them to. With Tumblr, Flicker and other acquisitions not making the promising profits that they were thought to have and the Alibaba deal being halted by the IRS, bringing Yahoo! Inc. out from its financial distress, does not seem to be a reality [15].

Although the deal with Google has potential to bring both greater profits and user data to Yahoo! Inc. the benefits of that deal will not be seen for many years to come. Investors are asking for Mayer to either resign or to be ousted from the company altogether. In her near four years as CEO, Mayer has spent around $7 billion in acquisitions and has been unable to turn a profit from those investments. For this reason and others many question her leadership skills and whether she can bring the company together. Mayer may soon be fired by Yahoo! Inc.’s Board of Directors [15].

Mayer herself disagrees with the investors’ and the public’s view of a failing company. Mayer believes that the new initiatives she has put in place will soon pay off and bring the company back to its original days of success. Mayer is only one of half a dozen CEOs who have come and gone in the past decade at Yahoo! Inc. [15]. The company has also had executives leave as well, like the loss of their Marketing Chief to STX Entertainment, so it would be no surprise to see Mayer take her exit [16]. This type of shake up in the hierarchal system may be one of the reasons that Yahoo! Inc. is having issues with its services and ability to make a profit, because of its lack of strong and consistent leadership.

YAHOO! INC.~ The future

Source: Vserv, Yahoo! Logo [28]

Overall, Yahoo! Inc. has gone from a search engine focused company to one focusing on its media presence. This has been done unsuccessfully and for this reason its board will be meeting several times the first week of December of 2015 in order to make some executive decisions about leadership and what the future of Yahoo! Inc. looks like as a company [17].

Yahoo! Inc.’s constant replacement of CEOs has rocked the company’s structure and efficiency. It needs a new strategic business plan in order to stay competitive in its markets. Since the Alibaba deal went south, there is going to be a last effort to boost stock value of Yahoo! Inc. by potentially selling the company’s core assets. Considering that Yahoo! Inc. shares have gone down 35%, this seems like a strategically intelligent move [18].

After rumors of this potential sale circulated through investors and outside parties, Yahoo! Inc.’s stock value boosted by 5.6%, showing that the public views this sale as a potential solution to the company’s problems [19].

The future of Yahoo! Inc. is unclear, both in leadership and in its financial state. Despite this, it is not a lost cause, it has the potential for growth and greater success.

Sources

[1] Yahoo! Inc. Success Story. Success Story. Retrieved: November 28th 2015.

[2] Musil, Steven. (April 16th 2014). Yahoo co-founder David Filo nominated to return to board. CNET. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[3] Efrati, Amir & Letzing John. (July 17th 2012). Google’s Mayer Takes Over as Yahoo Chief. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved: November 28th 2015.

[4] Peterson, Tim. (October 21st 2014). Yahoo Now Makes More Money From Search Ads Than Banners. Adage. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[5] Products and Services. Yahoo!. Retrieved: November 12th 2015.

[6] Isidore, Chris. (May 20th 2013). Yahoo buys Tumblr, promises to not ‘screw it up’. CNN Money. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[7] Geron, Tomio. (August 2013). A Look Back At Yahoo’s Flickr Acquisition For Lessons Today. Tech Crunch. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[8] (October 20th 2015). Investor Relations. Yahoo!. Retrieved: October 22nd 2015.

[9] Pramuk, Jacob. (October 20th 2015). Yahoo cuts Q4 guidance after earnings miss. CNBC. Retrieved: October 22nd 2015.

[10] Cornell, Joe. (October 1st 2015). Yahoo’s Alibaba Spin-Off On Track. Forbes. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[11] Riley, Duncan. (October 21st 2015). Back to the future: Yahoo returns to Google’s loving embrace with new search and ad deal. Silicon Angle. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[12] Rosoff, Matt. (October 20th 2015). Yahoo has signed a deal with Google to provide search ads. Business Insider. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[13] Gustin, Sam. (July 18th 2012). The Ten Most Influential Women in Technology. Time. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[14] La Monica, Paul R. (October 21st 2015). Marissa Mayer STILL hasn’t fixed Yahoo. CNN Money. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[15] (November 27th 2015). For Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, the clock is ticking. CBS Money Watch. Retrieved: November 28th 2015.

[16] Jones, Dow. (September 11 2015). Yahoo Marketing Chief to Join STX Entertainment. Nasdaq. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[17] Poletti, Therese. (December 1st 2015). Selling Yahoo’s core business would be complicated. Market Watch. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[18] Goldman, David. (December 1st 2015). Yahoo could be looking for a buyer. CNN Money. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[19] (December 1st 2015). Yahoo shares spike on report company may sell core assets. CNBC. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[20] Yahoo! Logo. Biz Journal. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[21] Yahoo! Executive Team. Yahoo!. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[22] Flickr Logo. Flickr. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[23] Tumblr Logo. Tumblr. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[24] Alibaba Logo. Alibaba. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[25] Google Logo. Google. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[26] Yahoo! Quote. Yahoo!. Retrieved: November 29th 2015.

[27] Marissa Mayer Photo. Business Insider. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[28] Yahoo! Logo. Vserv. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

[29] Yahoo! Commercial. Youtube. Retrieved: December 1st 2015.

DreamWorks SKG Studios

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Jacob Warren

By Jacob Warren

DreamWorks SKG Studios Logo [1]

DreamWorks Studios Entrance [2]

100 Universal City Plaza Dr.
Universal City, CA 91608
Website: www.dreamworksstudios.com
Phone: 818-733-9300
Twitter: @DW_Studios

Key Executives

Steven Spielberg [3] Founder & Principal Partner

Stacey Snider [4] Co-Chairman & CEO

Jeff Small [5] President & COO

Brief History

DreamWorks Studios was founded in 1994 by filmmaker Steven Spielberg, animation specialist Jeffrey Katzenberg and recording industry expert David Geffen. The three

DreamWorks Logo [6]

founders initially planned to create DreamWorks as a diversified media firm, however they quickly realized that this was the wrong approach and transformed DreamWorks into a television and film developing, producing and distributing powerhouse. The partners sold DreamWorks to Viacom in 2005 and the majority of DreamWorks Studios’ films are now marketed and distributed by Walt Disney Studios. [6] [7]

Company Overview

Company Sign [7.5]

DreamWorks Studios is a mini-major motion picture company led by Steven Spielberg in partnership with the Reliance ADA group. DreamWorks develops and produces films and television programming with a goal of releasing or producing a minimum of five to six films each year. Since its inception, DreamWorks Studios has produced and developed over 75 motion pictures including three consecutive Academy Award Best Pictures in 1999, 2000 and 2001. With distribution outlets in North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and Russia, DreamWorks’ success in the film industry prompted the company to split into two separate entities in 2004, DreamWorks Studios and DreamWorks Animation. [8]

Financials

Unlike DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks Studios has remained a privately held company and is not required to release financial statements to the public. However, significant financial information about the company is available through research. Initially funded by the three founders who each contributed $33 million, DreamWorks was also initially capitalized by an investment of $500 million from Microsoft co-Founder, Paul Allen. Despite earning Academy Awards for Best Picture in 1999, 2000 and 2001, nu-

Reliance ADA Media Logo [8.5]

merous box office flops resulted in a $400+ million debt for the film company, which nearly declared bankruptcy twice. In February 2006 DreamWorks and Viacom agreed to terms that awarded Viacom control of DreamWorks Studios for an approximate $1.5 billion. Viacom assumed DreamWorks’ debt, however Viacom’s film distribution company, Paramount Pictures, also acquired DreamWorks’ film library that was valued at $900 million. [9] In 2008, DreamWorks ended its distribution deal with Paramount Pictures and inked another $1.5 billion deal with one of India’s largest media companies, Reliance ADA Group, which now owns 50% of the DreamWorks Studios. JP Morgan executives Clark Hallren and Alan Levine guided Reliance Media’s formulation of a business plan for DreamWorks Studios. [10]

Early Filmography

Although considered a mini-major film company, DreamWorks competes with major film studios. In 1997, DreamWorks released its first film, The Peacemaker. After several smaller films, DreamWorks made a significant impact in 1998 with the release of Saving

Battlefield scene from 'The Pacific' [23]

Battlefield scene from ‘The Pacific’ [10.5]

Private Ryan, featuring Tom Hanks. Grossing just under $500 million, the film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards. DreamWorks Studios’ success was just beginning. During the next three years DreamWorks Studios films won Best Picture for American Beauty (1999), Gladiator (2000) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), bringing in over $1 billion and 14 Academy Awards. DreamWorks Studios also enjoyed success in television with the HBO 10-part mini series, ‘The Pacific’ (2010). The series was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning eight. [6]

Right Here. Right Now.

Radical Changes

Despite its film and television success, by 2012 DreamWorks Studios was losing tens of millions of dollars a year. In 2013, the founders began streamlining operations to focus on improving profits. Although DreamWorks has its history as a Hollywood film

'Lincoln' DreamWorks film co-financed by 20th Century Fox [24]

‘Lincoln’ DreamWorks film co-financed with 20th Century Fox [10.6]

company, the studio began slashing budgets and transitioning to more of an independent film company. Beginning by reducing annual films in production from six to two, they tightened film schedules from 60-days to 40-days as well as keeping film budgets under $30 million. DreamWorks now utilizes co-financing on almost all of its films to reduce its financial risk and has slashed its work force from 120 employees to a lean 80. [11]

2013 Film Releases

'The Fifth Estate' film released in 2013. [25]

‘The Fifth Estate’ film released in 2013. [11.5]

With DreamWorks’ new business plan they now have the flexibility to release three or four films a year. This year, DreamWorks produced and released three new films. The first, ‘The Fifth Estate’, released on October 18, 2013, chronicles the demise of the company WikiLeaks. The film “reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned an Internet upstart into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization.” Although a popular and compelling story, the film has yet to earn a fraction of its $28 million budget, only earning $3 million domestically to date. [12] [13]

The second film being released this Friday, November 22, 2013 is the comedy ‘Delivery Man’ featuring Vince Vaughn. This heavily marketed film presents the story of underachiever David Wozniak, whose uneventful life gets turned upside down when he finds out that he unintentionally fathered 533 children via sperm donations that he made in his youth. [14] [15]

The final film that DreamWorks has finished production on this year is the action-packed ‘Need For Speed’. A spinoff of the popular video game series set to release March 14,

'Need For Speed' action scene (2014). [26]

‘Need For Speed’ action scene (2014). [15.5]

2014, this film is DreamWorks’ attempt to grab a piece of the racing genre popularized by Universal Studios’ ‘The Fast and The Furious’ which has released six movies and is the most successful racing movie series ever. [16] [17]

2013 Acquisitions

Along with slashing budgets and modifying business plans, DreamWorks Studios has focused on purchasing rights to popular literary works. Early in 2013, they obtained the rights to Richard C. Morais’s best-selling novel, ‘The One-Hundred Foot Journey’. The film went into production on October 9, 2013 and is scheduled for release on August 8, 2014. Also in October 2013, DreamWorks Studios acquired an untitled pitch from screenwriting

Goodwin's best seller 'The Bully Pulpit' [27]

Goodwin’s best seller ‘The Bully Pulpit’ [18.5]

brothers Phil and Scott Rosenberg. “Plot details are being kept under wraps, but sources describe the film as a ‘modern-day-mission movie’ with a supernatural twist. [18]” Industry experts are waiting to see if DreamWorks will put the pitch into production. The most recent purchase occurred on October 30, 2013 when DreamWorks acquired the film rights to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin’s recently released book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. Goodwin and DreamWorks successfully collaborated on the 2012 film ‘Lincoln’ which grossed over $275 million. [19] [20]

Sources:

[1] Broadwayworld.com: DreamWorks logo image

[2] Communitybranding.com: DreamWorks entrance image

[3] DreamWorks: Steven Spielberg image/bio

[4] DreamWorks: Stacey Snider image/bio

[5] DreamWorks: Jeff Small image/bio

[6] DreamWorks: Film history/image

[7] LA Times: DreamWorks & Walt Disney Studios deal

[7.5] ABClocal.go.com: Company sign image

[8] Google Articles: DreamWorks & Reliance Media deal

[8.5] Variety: Reliance ADA Group image

[9] Hollywood.com: Paramount buys DreamWorks