Yahoo did have a unique ability to smother any business that it acquired -- and I think the reasons go way beyond an inability to monetize them. In fact, I'd argue that it was actually Yahoo's fixation with short-term monetization strategies that eventually turned everything to dust.

Consider Flickr, which Yahoo bought for about $25 million in 2005. If you're a tech visionary, you look at this popular little photo-sharing site and say: "Wow, everyone's connectivity speeds are soaring, and we could morph this into a video site, too!" And then, maybe, you've invented YouTube.

Or, you look at the way Friendstr and Facebook are getting traction, and you say: "Wow, what if we built out easier commenting and a social-network feed with abundant sharing of popular photos among users' pals?" And then maybe you've invented Instagram.

But Yahoo's metrics-driven managers refused to stretch their brains in this direction. I've been told by two famous-name insiders at the time that Yahoo's approach to everything was to set short-term targets focused on existing metrics, with rigid focus on hitting quarterly targets. It was all about driving orderly growth of what was already there, rather than any desire to explore new and uncharted areas.

In essence, Yahoo had a Silicon Valley address but a Battle Creek, Mich., mindset. Purple logo aside, Yahoo owed a lot more to the way W.W. Kellogg had been running its cereal business for decades, as opposed to anything going on in the 650 area code.

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bsder 4 days ago | parent [-]

>And then, maybe, you've invented YouTube.

SUPER unlikely.

Everybody forgets that YouTube was a massive money loser that was floated by VC money. Had Google not bought YouTube, it was doomed.

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GCA10 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

That's actually the point. Yahoo in 2005 had the financial muscle -- and an interesting starting point via Flickr's user base -- to spin up its own version of YouTube without needing to do an acquisition. Stronger Yahoo leadership would have stomached the get-started costs of an internal build-out, because of a sense of what this could become.

Yahoo just lacked the imagination and nerve necessary to see how its own assets could lead to the next big thing.

	▲	knallfrosch 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Yet Google failed to build a social network, Apple failed to build a car and Microsoft failed to muscle its way into the mobile market. And now Bytedance beat every US competitor, including Google's YouTube, Amazon's Twitch and Facebook's Instagram with what? An app that lets you upload 10s videos. Maybe it's not so easy.

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everfrustrated 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Youtube was also going to get buried under lawsuits for copyright infringement. Being part of a big brand gave them a lot of legal cover.