Firas Alkhateeb, a student at the University of Illinois uploaded a satirical image on Flickr of President Barack Obama with a paint job that resembles the Joker in the movie The Dark Knight.  The image has spread all over the Internet since it was uploaded last December.

Yahoo! recently decided to remove the image (above) from Firas’ Flickr account and sent him an e-mail.  The e-mail stated that the image was deleted “due to copyright-infringement concerns.”

The problem with this e-mail is that there are tons of satirical pictures of former President George W. Bush all over Flickr.  Ryan Tate of Valleywag suggested that Yahoo! may not want to disappoint the Obama administration in The White House because of several lucrative contracts between the two parties.

Another possible reason why the image was deleted would be because many Flickr users clicked the “Report Abuse” button on the image so Yahoo! caved and had it removed several months later.  President Obama has a huge fan base on the Internet.

Yahoo!’s VP of West Coast Sales David Dickman has decided to leave the company and join Time Warner.  Dickman will be working in digital sales at Time Warner.  The reason why Dickman left Yahoo! was because he was not happy with organization changes happening at Yahoo!

Dickman worked at Yahoo! for 3 years and was in charge for the premium display advertising sales.  Before Dickman stepped down from his position, he was reporting to Mitch Spolan.

[via AllThingsD]

Doug Cutting, co-creator of the Hadoop technology that powers Yahoo!’s search index is leaving to join Cloudera.  Cutting will be joining Cloudera at the end of August.  Cutting is heading out shortly after Microsoft made a deal with Yahoo! to power their search engine and share in ad revenues.  However Cutting claims that his resignation does not have to do with the deal.

“This has been in the works for awhile and is unrelated,” stated Cutting. “I am definitely not leaving in any sort of protest, and the thing I like least about this move is that it might be perceived that way.”

Cutting will be doing a similar job at Cloudera.  He will continue working with Yahoo! developers at Cloudera.  Hadoop is open source software made for data mining.

[via SearchEngineLand]

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has bought the domain name OMG.com for $80,000.  This is not a bad price considering that Yahoo!’s OMG service generates a good amount of traffic.  Yahoo! OMG receives more traffic than Yahoo! Autos, the Yahoo! Messenger website, Yahoo! Music, and Yahoo! Maps.

My guess is that they will just forward OMG.com to OMG.Yahoo.com.  Tweens generally write “OMG” as a statement that they’re shocked.  Its shorthand for “Oh My God!”

Even when Yahoo! shuts down services, they try to cash out on the domain names that they own too.  For example, Yahoo! sold Contests.com for $380,000 at a domain name auction in D.C.  Yahoo! attained the domain name Contests.com after they bought out Mark Cuban’s company Broadcast.com.  The buyer of Contests.com was National A-1 Advertising.

[via Domain Name Wire]

Ashlee Vance and Brad Stone of The New York Times had visited Yahoo!’s headquarters to do some interviewing last week.  The two interviewed security guard Shewondia Mills and CEO Carol Bartz.  The Times wanted to learn more about Yahoo!’s company culture.  What the Times got out of the visit is a debatable quote from the recently installed CEO.

“We have never been a search company,” stated Bartz. “It is: ‘I am on Yahoo. I am going to do a search.’ ”

Bartz said that generally people only conduct a search on Yahoo! after reading a news story or watches a video on another Yahoo! service.  Yahoo! generally does not become the destination that people visit when looking for search answers.  This is why Bartz does not mind that Yahoo! has a 20% search market share.  Google has above 60% search market share.

The reason why Bartz’s claim is debatable is because I remember Yahoo! as being the first place to go for searching the web before Google became a large brand.  Meaning that Yahoo.com is what I used before the year 2002.  Perhaps Yahoo! lost their search engine market share shortly after Terry Semel became the company CEO.  Semel focused on intense M&A that drove Yahoo! away from being just known for search.

Under Semel, Yahoo! bought LAUNCH Media, Hotjobs.com, Inktomi, Oveture, Kelkoo, Oddpost, Musicmatch Jukebox, The All-Seeing Eye, Stata Labs, WUF Networks, Verdisoft, Stadeon, Ludicorp, TeRespondo, Dialpad, blo.gs, Konfabulator, Upcoming.org, Del.icio.us, Webjay, SearchFox, Meedio, Jumpcut, AdInterax, Bix.com, Kenet Works, Wretch, MyBlogLog, and Right Media.  Buying and integrating all of these companies into Yahoo! caused the company to forget about its core competency which was search.  This enabled Google to swoop in and take a huge market share chunk.

Before Google, Yahoo! was the only search engine that I knew.

[via Mashable]

Some of the additional T’s and C’s of the Microsoft and Yahoo! search deal are being revealed.  For example, Yahoo! has the rights to cancel the search deal if Google’s revenue per search query rate ends up being higher than the combined Microsoft and Yahoo! RPS rate.

In addition to becoming exclusive search engine for Yahoo!’s properties, Microsoft will also be hiring 400 employees from Yahoo!  Microsoft may could end up providing Yahoo! 90-93% of search ad revenues during the second leg of the agreement.

These details were revealed in a filing with the SEC yesterday.  Yahoo! may also cancel the deal if Microsoft decides to exit from the algorithmic search or paid search ad business.  In the second half of the deal term, Microsoft has the rights to terminate its partnership with Yahoo! sales exclusivety for other premium search advertisers.  If Microsoft does this, then the revenue rate will increase to 93%.

Microsoft will pay Yahoo! $150 million over the next 3 years to cover transition and implementation costs.

Other terms in the 8-K:
- Subject to certain specified restrictions, Yahoo! will have full flexibility with respect to the user experience, content and look and feel on all of its web pages, and will also be entitled to use the paid search services and algorithmic search services for non-internet search queries with minimal restriction.
- Yahoo! may implement each of the mapping services and the mobile search services on a non-exclusive or an exclusive basis. Yahoo! also has the option to work with Microsoft to implement the services on other platforms. If Yahoo! elects to receive services for other platforms, it must receive such services on an exclusive basis.
- Yahoo! may, at its option, elect to have Microsoft deliver the algorithmic search services and paid search services through a search results page hosted by Microsoft (the “White Label Solution”) on a country by country basis (if the United States is also a White Label Solution country), instead of through the Microsoft API. The White Label Solution will be in all material respects the same as Microsoft’s search results pages. Yahoo! may substitute Yahoo! applications or services for Microsoft applications or services within the White Label Solution.

The deal isn’t expected to clear until early 2010 due to regulatory approval.  And both companies have up until October 27 to make further definitive agreements.

It was about a year ago that Carl Icahn was battling the Yahoo! Board to have several executives removed from the helm.  But Yahoo! quickly settled before the annual shareholder meeting and gave Carl Icahn three board seats.

As you may remember, Carl Icahn was highly proactive in pushing Microsoft to work out some sort of deal with Yahoo! if not a full buy out.  Icahn helped make it happen because Microsoft and Yahoo! did end up making a deal.

“I think it is an excellent deal, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and her team did an excellent job under the circumstances,” stated Icahn in an interview with BusinessWeek. “I agree with [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer that the deal benefits Yahoo in that Yahoo gets 88% of the search revenues under the agreement,”

Like Steve Ballmer, Icahn said that he was also surprised by Wall Street’s reaction to the deal.  Yahoo! lost about a $2.9 billion market cap and Microsoft gained about the same.

Icahn has a 5% stake in Yahoo!  Icahn added that Yahoo! cannot afford to continue competing against Google and Microsoft the way that they were operating.  “I believe that the partnership with Microsoft bodes very well for Yahoo’s long-term outlook and future,” added Icahn.

Yesterday after the Microsoft and Yahoo! deal was announced, Yahoo!’s market cap dropped about $2.9 billion and Microsoft’s market cap jumped about $2.9 billion.  The coincidence of this occurence taking place was uncanny.  Even Ballmer was shocked that Yahoo!’s stock took a hit.  ”Nobody gets it,” stated Ballmer when talking to financial analysts at Microsoft headquarters yesterday.

Microsoft and Yahoo! announced a pact on Wednesday that would last 10 years.  This deal is considered to be a blow to Google because Yahoo! will be focusing less on search technology.  Instead Microsoft will handle the advertising revenue and search technology on behalf of themselves and Yahoo!  Google on the other hand will have less competition to worry about.

Yahoo!’s homepage and their various other properties will be powered by Microsoft search engine Bing.com.  Yahoo! will be keeping the majority of the revenue earned by ads on the Yahoo! websites.  “I was myself kind of surprised by the market reaction,” stated Ballmer. “It’s a win-win deal.”

[via NYT]

I still remember the day Microsoft made a bid to buy out Yahoo! and the day Yahoo! rejected the offer like it was yesterday.  Today marks the day that the two companies resolved their differences and have made a partnership agreement.

(more…)

This past May, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said that the search engine company is open to a deal with Microsoft as long as it involves “boatloads of money.”  This is probably what Microsoft decided to pay because the media is going wild about a deal that the companies are planning to announce later today.  Through the agreement, Microsoft search engine Bing will become the default search engine on the Yahoo! homepage.

Yahoo! currently has about 30% marketshare for search while Google has about 65%.  However Yahoo! is the #2 most visited website in the world because of all the services they offer which include Fantasy Sports, News, Video, Music, etc.  The deal will give Yahoo! the chance to get out of the search-advertising technology platform business and focus more on its media properties.  Microsoft will manage the inventory of advertising through their AdCenter platform.

It seems like many advertising companies support a Microsoft-Yahoo! partnership because they believe that they are a less monopolistic search-advertising business combined than a combined Google-Yahoo! partnership.  The deal would still have to clear the Department of Justice.  Microsoft was highly critical of the Google-Yahoo! partnership to the government when Yahoo! rejected an acquisition bid from the software giant.

More news on this story as it develops.

Xoopit has been acquired by Yahoo. Xoopit makes applications to help people share content over email. Yahoo plans to integrate Xoopit with Yahoo mail to help users organize and share photos they send and receive over Yahoo mail.

The amount of the acquisition was not disclosed but is rumored to be at around $20 million. Xoopit had raised $5 million from VCs.

Xooped won a Hack Day event at Yahoo last year for its email photo organization application. Xoopt powered My Photos is the third most popular application at Yahoo Mail.

Yahoo launched a redesigned homepage today. The company said it is their most significant homepage redesign ever. Users can now fully customize their Yahoo homepage. The new design is cleaner than their previous designs. It is also better organized and less cluttered.

One of the best features of the homepage is a new My Favorites panel. The panel includes Yahoo properties as well as external sites such as Facebook and eBay. Users can add their own sites to the panel. Users can also add widgets Yahoo calls Apps from yahoo’s Apps Gallery to the panel.

Users can even enter their own social networking status on the new homepage.

US visitors should see the new design up today. A Yahoo mobile homepage update is scheduled for next week.

All Things Digital reports that a search deal between Microsoft and Yahoo may be nearing completion. Icahn, one of the earlier proponents of the deal, said he would favor the deal. Icahn owns 5 percent of Yahoo. He is also a director on the board.

“I’ve been a strong advocate of getting a search deal done with Microsoft,” Icahn told Reuters.

Microsoft tried to buy Yahoo for $47.5 billion in the spring of 2008. The offer was taken off the table when Yahoo’s board said the price was not high enough. Icahn later came in and tried to broker a deal between the two companies. He also tried to oust Jerry Yang and take over the company. He launched a proxy battle to take over Yahoo’s board.

If and when the deal takes place, Microsoft will likely take over Yahoo’s search advertising business.

Carol Bartz sent out her early Friday message early this week because she will be having knee surgery soon.  During the surgery she will be away from the office for about two weeks.  In the e-mail, Bartz is basically asking Yahoo! employees to stop sitting around and do something.  That seems like a blow to those in the company that are working hard.

And something just seems off about a CEO that will be away for two weeks but is telling employees to work harder.  Anyways, below is the full e-mail that was sent from Bartz:

Surprise! You’re getting my Friday message a bit early this week – I’ll be out for two weeks or so starting today for knee replacement surgery.

I’ve got lots to cover before I go under the knife, so let’s dive right in:

we’re going to take a new approach to my weekly emails. You’ll now hear from me every few weeks, but in-between will hear more from my staff. I’m not the only person with interesting things to say, and it’s important that you hear from others that are running the business. And when I say my staff, I mean all my staff. Even Judy. I’m sure she can’t wait to tell you what it’s like working for me day-in and day-out.

One last thing before I go. I’ve noticed that since the reorg, people seem like they’re waiting for something. I’m not sure if it’s a sugar-low or what, but we need to stop waiting and get moving. Good things do not come to those who wait, they come to those who make things happen.

Would you be motivated with an e-mail like this?

[via Valleywag]

Chief Yahoo and Yahoo! co-founder David Filo announced last week that he met with New York Governor David Paterson and Senator Chuck Schumer.  Yahoo! announced plans to build one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world.  Data centers are the top source of energy consumption at Yahoo! so the announcement is very significant.

The data center will be powered by hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls. About 90% of the energy will be used to power servers.  The industry average is 50%.  The new data center will be based in Lockport, New York.  The company aims to have an annual average power usage effectiveness at 1.1 or better.  The design of the building will be based on the Yahoo! Computing Coop since it looks similar to a chicken coop.

About two years ago, Yahoo! started building their own data centers.  Their facility in Washington is powered by zero-carbon wind and other hydroelectric sources.  Yahoo! is even aiming to reduce carbon intensity of their data centers by at least 40% by 2014.

[via Yodel Anecdotal]