Semel Out, Yang in as Yahoo’s CEO

Yahoo today named co-founder Jerry Yang as their CEO, replacing Terry Semel who will become a “non-executive Chairman” and serve as an advisor. Susan Decker, formerly Executive Vice President and Head of Advertiser and Publisher Group, was also appointed as President of the company. Before that she was the chief financial officer.

What does this mean for Yahoo? Well I really hope Yahoo pulls things together. They have made big moves toward developing innovative projects, and buying others, but they need to stop sucking their sites dry for all the money they can get. The entertainment sites are especially heinous and flashy, instead of being simple and classy. I’m talking about you Yahoo TV. Yang posted on the Yodel Yahoo blog about his joint vision with Decker. The monetizing part scares me, especially since they have done such a bad job of being tasteful and Google offers most things for free.

A Yahoo! that executes with speed, clarity and discipline. A Yahoo! that increases its focus on differentiating its products and investing in creativity and innovation. A Yahoo! that better monetizes its audience. A Yahoo! whose great talent is galvanized to address its challenges. And a Yahoo! that is better focused on what’s important to its users, customers, and employees.

Sources: Press Release, Yang’s Announcement

BusinessBits: Avaya Agrees to Buyout

Avaya agrees to be acquired by Silver Lake Partners and TPG Capital for about $8.2 billion, or $17.50 per share cash. Avaya provides communications systems equipment to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations.Source: Forbes

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BusinessBits: Google and Salesforce to Work Together

“Salesforce will introduce a version of its customer relationship management software that lets small companies buy Google text ads to promote their businesses, then manage leads that result from the campaigns from within Salesforce’s product. The tieup fell short of speculation that Google might buy or invest in Salesforce and underscores that while purveyors of [...]

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BusinessBits: Amp’d Mobile Files for Bankruptcy

On June 1 Amp’d Mobile filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Nearly half of their customers don’t pay, and that became a problem. Source: BusinessWeek

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BusinessBits: Bush Names Paulson as Treasury Secretary

“The dollar pared early losses Tuesday on news that Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson will be named to replace outgoing Treasury Secretary John Snow.”“The dollar was sharply lower earlier after the New York Times said that Don Evans, a former U.S. commerce secretary, may fit the profile of past Treasury secretaries who have [...]

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BusinessBits: News Corp Bids For Dow Jones

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has made a $5 billion unsolicited bid for Dow Jones. Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal and has the Dow Jones Newswires and MarketWatch news properties, is said to be examining the offer. Down Jones cannot be taken over without the Bancroft family’s consent and they have owned [...]

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Interview with Randy Morin on Rmail

I interviewed Randy Charles Morin about Rmail and his recent sale of Rmail. I also asked him for tips to give someone thinking of starting their own business.

How did you get the idea for Rmail?

I didn’t. I was using existing RSS to email solutions for my own blogs, but these solutions were unreliable and usually didn’t work at all. So, I wrote a webpage on kbcafe.com called Rmail that would service my blogs. I didn’t preclude other people using it for their own blogs. And other bloggers started using it.

How have things changed from that initial idea?

Rmail eventually turned from a webpage to a website as more and more users needed it. I’ve added tons of features, but the core purpose remains the same; turn RSS into emails.

You wrote on February 8th 2007 that Rmail reached 50,000 users. How has that growth been driven?

The growth has been mostly word-of-mouth. I’ve never spent much time marketing the idea.

What is your big announcement today?

I sold the website to NBC.

Why sell the company now?

NBC is much more capable of turning Rmail into a success via its marketing engine.

What were the challenges of running it all by yourself?

There were big challenges. Scaling an application and dealing with all the legalities was very difficult.

What will your role be under the new ownership?

I will continue to run the Rmail website for now and transfer it to NBCs servers in time.

How will things change at Rmail?

With some money behind it, the sky is the limit.

How do you plan to continue Rmail’s growth?

This is now NBC’s game plan, not mine.

And lastly, do you have any tips for someone starting their own business?

Let’s start by saying that 95% of Americans and Canadians don’t know what an honest days work is. Most people reading this will likely say they are part of the 5% that do. Those people should ask themselves a simple question. Do you honestly work 40 or more hours per week? Remove lunch. Remove water-cooler downtime. Remove all breaks. Remove personal phone calls. Remove solitaire. If you are part of that 5%, then do it. But don’t quit your day job. Do it part-time until you can pay the bills.

BestBuy Screws Consumer with Second Website, Denies Deals Exist

Well here’s a story that hits close to home. It appears that “under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming [George Gombossy's] reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.” (Via The Hardford Courant, seen on Slashdot)

I remember two summers ago when I went to a local BestBuy after seeing a deal on their website. When I got to the store the staff showed me a site that looked like their regular one, and it didn’t have the Internet sale anymore. I now know that this was because they have a second site that is available internally that often doesn’t show the same prices and deals. Apparently BestBuy employees don’t always check the external BestBuy site. This news really angers me. How can companies be so evil? It’s ridiculous.

This reaffirms my belief in only using BestBuy to buy DVDs for under $10. I rarely buy electronics from them, and for good reason. Their return policy sucks. I’d recommend going with a place like Newegg for good deals. And always check prices at multiple sites. If you do try to buy something from BestBuy, make sure to tell the employee to check the external site if they tell you that the deal you saw online doesn’t exist.

Jim Cramer on the Colbert Report in 2005

Here is video of Jim Cramer from his first appearance on the Colbert Report on October 20, 2005. This was in the early history of the show. Cramer talks about stocks, his outlook on the market (he said it wasn’t good back then), himself and his show. It’s not just about his book like the previous video I posted, though I have included an Amazon insert if you are interested. I just bought the book but have yet to read it.

MTV Buying RateMyProfessors.com

Apparently MTV has agreed to buy RateMyProfessors.com. The deal is expected to be done by March 2007 and be a part of mtvU.com. From the CNET article I’m more interested in the mention that MTV previously bought College Publisher in August 2006. They are a service that operates the online version of many college newspapers, including The Signal at TCNJ. It looks like MTV is rapidly expanding their college operations. What’s next?

Source: CNET