An Action Plan for Yahoo!'s New Chief

Longer Term:

• Guide low. Issue conservative 2009 and March-quarter guidance. It would be nice to see Yahoo! produce results at the upper end of a forecast for a change of pace. Under promise, over achieve. Analyst estimates still need to come down across the board for 2009 and the March quarter.
• Don't focus on the share price. It's likely going to take some time before Yahoo! shares see the high teens again. Markets do reward results.
• Revisit Wenda. Many consider Wenda Harris Millard the best salesperson in the business -- ever. Now that Decker has resigned, perhaps it makes sense to bring back the person who sold Yahoo! inventory to the big brands.
• Reach out to investors more frequently. Wall Street tends to like to have a message repeated over and over again. Get out and market once there is a message to send. Thank your current IR team for the tremendous work they have done over the last years communicating effectively to investors.
• Buy Twitter. If you are going to keep search, it needs to have an edge. Twitter could give Yahoo! a real-time component to search results that no other engine has.
• Improve revenue per head. Be clear about the fact that additional headcount reductions may be a fact of life.

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