UPDATED 10:50 EDT / OCTOBER 22 2012

NEWS

Yahoo Has $2B to Play With. Millennial Media on the Buy List?

With Yahoo struggling to pull in revenue through its online content creation businesses, new CEO Marissa Mayer is rumored to be planning a new direction for the company, one that will see it revert back to its roots as a leader in all things technology.

For some years now, Yahoo has attempted to juggle both acts simultaneously, distributing news and various other types of content, whilst continuing to supply a range of technology tools – only to struggle to establish itself as market leader in either field.

Now it looks as if Yahoo has finally come to its senses and realized that it cannot compete on two fronts. Whilst it’s unlikely to completely give up on its news and content services, it seems that Mayer is set to make some decisive changes in what could well be the last chance saloon for Yahoo as it strives to reclaim its throne as the internet’s leading pioneer.

SiliconANGLE founder John Furrier commented earlier this month that Mayer needed to make a decision on the company’s direction and stick by it, since Yahoo already has the people who can make things happen.

Today, it’s looking more likely that Mayer may well be heading in that direction, with rumors circulating Silicon Valley that the company is set to embark on aggressive M&A strategy that could see it acquire a number of promising mobile and social technology startups in the next few months.

Mayer has certainly been given an ample war chest to do so – according to NASDAQ, for all the company’s troubles, it’s sitting on a healthy $2 billion fortune that it can use to take its pick from the most promising targets around.

A number of potential targets for Yahoo have been suggested in recent weeks, including the mobile advertising platform Millennial Media, which is believed to have an audience of almost 300 million smartphone and tablet users; OpenTable, a restaurant search and reservation platform that counts almost 6.5 million monthly users; PubMatic, a ‘strategic selling platform’ that allows publishers to optimize their advertising strategies; and Turn, another advertising platform whose specialty lies in interactive advertising.

These kinds of acquisitions would appear to be the next logical step for Mayer, who has already begun to stamp her authority on the company by assembling a team of indivduals she trusts to take the company forward, including Henrique de Castro as operations lead; Jacqueline Reese for hiring and acquisitions; Ken Goldman as CFO; and Kathy Savitt as CMO.

Separately, Yahoo has already begun to pull out of markets it believes are no longer profitable, most recently announcing plans to drop South Korea by the end of this year.

Mayer is set to unveil more details of her vision for Yahoo’s future later today, when the company releases its quarterly financial report.


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