Terry Semel walked into Yahoo 6 years ago as an outsider.
"When you came to Yahoo,you don't know very much about that technology,is that right?"
"That's very true,very true.But I knew about business,Yahoo is also a business."
Today the former Hollywood mogul knows a little bit more the crucial technology behind yahoo like this server farm at the company's headquarters.
"It is collecting things as mails,photos,and others.They are stored on the servers."
Accounted by training and the product of Brooklyn and Queen,Semel said his mother groomed him for leadership.
"I had a very supportive mother who often say you know you could do it,you can do anything,you could be the president of United States.And of coures i come home with bad grades she say don't let it bother you."
Semel hones his deal-making skills over more than 30 years at Wanner Brothers.In fact Hollywood had a name for it,getting Semelized.He and co-CEO Bobby D/ transformed this studio into a diverse meida company growing annual revenues from less than a billion dollars to nearly 11 billion dollars during their reign.After leaving Wanner Brothers in 1999,Semel met Jerry Yang,one of the co-founders of Yahoo.While attending a conference and the two became friends.
"One day Yang said 'would you like to be our CEO,our CEO has left'.That's he know,I'm really not really interested in a job,i don't really want to work for people.And I went home and I thought about it for a few days and thought that's exactly what I'd like to do."
Yahoo was founded by Yang and David F/ when the two was still students in Standford.The company came to symbolized the Internet counter-culture of the late 90s,even down to its name.
"Yet Another Hierachical Officious Oracle."
Yahoo was flying high when the Internet bubble burst,the company lost 93 million dollars in 2001,after then CEO Tim Koogle stepped down.Yang convinced the board to hire semel.Silicon valley with a big / from an executive more accustomed to power lunches and Hollywood line light.But Semel was there to figure out how Yahoo could make money and he made believers of his younger colleagues.The new business model boosted Yahoo's bottom line almost immediately.
"And then 2003 2004 record profits,you know,nobody could say enough good things about Terry Semel."
"Right,when 2005 and 6 came and they say wow,what's happening."
What's happened is google,which became a powerful competitor after going public in 2004.
"Google came from virtually nowhere to dominate lucrative search advertising.And lately it has been beating Semel's own game--deal-making.Outbeating Yahoo for some key acquisitions like YouTube."
Dispite loosing odd on Tube.But on the other side,Yahoo is still by far the most popular website on the Internet.But google is the most profitable.
"This is a personal searching for American Idol"
Yahoo is trying to catching up in seach advertising with the project called Panama and the stakes are high.
"The problem is that Google has some so much momentum,so much money that anything next to them looks kinda of pale.And google itself is also expanding into all kinds of things Yahoo is already doing too."
Some think Yahoo may need to partner with someone,perhaps Microsoft to get ahead.Semel with years of / up and downs under his belt is keeping his eye on the long term.
"What's been the best part of it coming to Yahoo and Silicon Valley?"
"/ basically help changing the world."
Changing the world by connecting millions of people,one click at a time.
In / California,i'm S.R.for CEO exchange.
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