Yahoo will focus on some core products and experiences in the future

Absrtact: Yahoo submitted a filed form to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Friday. Yahoo has adjusted its positioning in the document, while also announcing the Alibaba Group's performance by the end of September 2012. Positioning shift in the latest filed table, Yahoo

Yahoo submitted a filed form to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Friday. Yahoo has adjusted its positioning in the document, while also announcing the Alibaba Group's performance by the end of September 2012.

Positioning transformation

In the latest filed form, Yahoo no longer calls itself "the leading digital media company", but rather refers to itself as "a global technology company focused on making the day-to-day habits of users around the world more inspirational and entertaining".

Yahoo's previous CEOs have been hit by "What Is Yahoo", and the latest filed form shows that incumbent CEO Marissa Marissa Mayer wants to turn Yahoo into a technology company that specializes in the media industry, rather than a media company that promotes efficiency through technology.

"Yahoo's competitive advantage lies in the fact that we make people's daily digital habits more entertaining, including daily activities such as communications, search, reading and information sharing," Yahoo said in the filed table. We believe that our main competencies lie in the usefulness, accessibility, integration and personalization of the online services provided, the quality of search results, personalization and presentation, and the overall user experience of our leading premium content media and Yahoo's other assets. ”

Yahoo's filed table shows that by the end of 2012 Yahoo had 11,700 employees, down 17% from 14,100 at the end of 2011.

Alibaba performance

Yahoo said that in the 12 months to the end of September 2012, Alibaba Group's U.S. general Accounting standards revenue of 4.08 billion U.S. dollars, a 74% increase from the same period in 2011. Gross profit of 2.764 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 78%. Operating profit of 688 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 112%. Net profit of 536 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 58%. The net profit attributable to Alibaba Group was $484 million, an increase of 81% per cent.

As of December 31, 2012, Yahoo holds the total value of Alibaba Group preferred shares of 822 million U.S. dollars. Yahoo has credited 23 million dollars in dividend receipts related to Alibaba Group preferred shares. This part of the income is credited to Yahoo's other revenue.

Reduce product line

In addition to the filed tables submitted, Yahoo Platform director Jay Rossitt Jay Rossiter said this week that Yahoo will close a variety of products in April, including BlackBerry apps, Yahoo avatars and message boards.

Ms. Mayer has been streamlining Yahoo's product line since taking office. Yahoo has stopped developing and supporting BlackBerry apps and launched the November 2010 app for Yahoo clues. Ms. Mayer said Yahoo's core business was personalized content, while the goal was to boost user participation, increase Yahoo's users in the global marketplace, and broaden the user base. Products that do not meet this target will be cut.

Rossiter in a blog post, Yahoo will only focus on some core products and experiences in the future. These products and experiences are mainly related to the daily habits of the users, such as Yahoo home page, Flickr and Yahoo Mail. Yahoo has recently upgraded these products.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television this January, Ms. Mayer talked about the business model of "everyday habits". "The good thing about Yahoo is that we have everything that users want to get on their phones," she says. We have these daily habits. I think that whenever you take into account the day-to-day habits of users and provide high value around them, this opportunity will not only provide value to end users, but also become a good business. ”

Starting from April this year, Yahoo will cut the following products: Yahoo avatars, yahoo BlackBerry apps, Yahoo clues, yahoo apps search, yahoo QSL IQ, Yahoo message boards website and yahoo updates API.

On the right track

Industry insiders believe that Yahoo's recent fourth-quarter results have convinced investors that Mayer is leading Yahoo to the right direction. In the quarter, Yahoo earned 0.32 dollars per share, better than the average analyst's estimated $0.28 trillion. Revenue, excluding the cost of traffic, was $1.22 billion trillion, above $1.17 billion in the same period in 2011, or 1.2 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2012.

Yahoo signed a number of cooperation agreements in the quarter, including cooperation with CBS and NBC Sports, while Yahoo mailboxes and Flickr were improved to enhance the mobile experience. Yahoo now has an advantage in the mobile business, because Yahoo's mobile business has a huge user base.