Yahoo post-Semel and the long road ahead

Of all the coverage of CEO Terry Semel leaving Yahoo, I think Om Malik's words, "Semel exits masks yet another bad quarter at Yahoo", are most worth noting:

Terry Semel-Sue Decker-Jerry Yang drama had us all distracted from the fact that Yahoo is going to report yet another bad quarter.

The company told Wall Street analysts that the June quarter is going to come in towards the lower half of revenue and EBITDA guidance. Ditto for the second half of 2007.

So nothing really has changed.

Despite our fascination with the lives of overpaid celebrity executives, only one thing matters, Yahoo's ability to compete.

Semel's departure may be the first step back to a more promising path, but Yahoo has a long road ahead before it gets back to where it needs to be.

See also my Jan 2007 post, "Yahoo blew it", and my Oct 2006 post, "Yahoo's troubles".

Update: Kevin Kelleher says:

Many people suspect Yahoo is still in trouble, even with its vilified lightning rod -- formerly known as CEO Terry Semel -- has been shown the door.

If this Internet star continues to devolve into an Internet dwarf, it's not just Yahoo who will suffer, it's all of us.

And, Thomas Hawk writes:

Not only [has Yahoo] not executed on a vision of social search, but that they have bungled the communities that they have purchased and actually done more harm to the company than good.

Almost everyone I've talked to about Yahoo has expressed to me that the company is a wreck. That people are unhappy. That executives are leaving. That bureaucracy reigns supreme and that almost nothing can get done in the current environment.