Yahoo's Panama Canal: Toxic Waste Dump in the Making?

Project Panama, Yahoo's search engine advertising overhaul, began at least two years later than it should have, according to Richard Waters' June 19, 2007 Financial Times article.

No matter: Yahoo's losing its audience so fast that the rest of its advertising business is circling the drain, even though the company claims success for Panama (unveiled last October) in its early stages.

To distract the naysayers and scoffers the company tossed CEO Terry Semel under the bus last Monday.

My favorite line in the whole kerfuffle appeared in Chris Nuttall and Richard Waters' June 19, 2007 Financial Times front page story.

Semel said, "I know everyone will think I was pushed... quite frankly I resigned."

Right.

Don't you find it amazing that a guy who made $71 million last year while his company imploded finds it important to save face?

I mean, what the heck does he care what anyone thinks?

Sheesh.

Turns out that even if Panama succeeds, "Yahoo could make more money by simply outsourcing search to Google," according to a June 20, 2007 New York Times Business section front page story by Miguel Helft and Andrew Ross Sorkin.

They added, "Abandoning search and Project Panama at this time would be wrenching. A Yahoo executive who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity said that ceding the search business to Google was not an option being considered now. But that could change, the executive said, adding, 'The Panama effort is actually really working. The question is whether the slope of the improvement is such that we'll catch up, or get close enough. My guess is that the executive team is going to give it six or nine months and see if we are there, and if not, they'll ask the question again.'"

It's hard to say, "I failed."

Not for me: I love it.

But then, this is joeworld.