Again and again, Yahoo executives have stressed that the company isn’t going anywhere; they’ve said its search pact with Microsoft, for example, isn’t a sign that it’s giving up. And now, one exec has made a much more forceful assertion, indicating that Yahoo intends to make lots of acquisitions this year.
Steven Mitzenmacher holds the title “Senior Director, Corporate Development” at Yahoo. That puts him in an excellent position to speak on the subject of acquisitions, even if his opinions are a little controversial (more on that in a minute).
So, according to Amir Efrati, here’s what Mitzenmacher said at the Global Technology Symposium: Yahoo’s leaders “want to do more” in terms of purchasing other companies, and Yahoo is “gearing up for a very big year” in that respect.
Mitzenmacher indicated that things are already in motion, too, stating, “[W]e’ve come out now guns blazing.”
That might or might not be a good idea. It’s possible Yahoo will buy the next Facebook/Twitter/whatever, of course, and some folks might argue that Yahoo needs to make a big, bold bet at this point.
On the other hand, Yahoo’s upset many investors over the years by making less-than-wise purchases (and by deciding to “sunset” or merge some properties), and it’s not going to win new fans by throwing more money away.
On that note, we’ll point out that Mitzenmacher said that the $1.6 billion Google paid for YouTube in 2006 is “still crazy.”
Also, in case anybody’s curious, Yahoo’s stock closed down 2.06 percent today, while Google’s stock dipped 0.67 percent.