全通翻譯/翻譯社

Acquire or Die: Can Yahoo Buy Its Way Back to the Big Time?

These are interesting times for Yahoo. It has been a year since CEO Marissa Mayer took the reins, and the company's share price is back to levels not seen since 2008. However, analysts remain guarded over whether Mayer can restore former glories.

Yahoo started life in 1994 under cofounders Jerry Yang and David Filo as a directory of other Web sites. It soon became one of the most identifiable online presences through partnerships with leading telecommunications brands and high-profile acquisitions. Amid shareholder discontent, Taiwan-born Yang became CEO in 2007. His tenure was marred by a struggle against a hostile takeover bid by Microsoft, a talent drain and wavering disillusionment on the part of investors.

Microsoft reentered the fray in 2010, inking a 10-year deal that allows Yahoo to employ the Bing search engine on its sites. While Yahoo retains control of the presentation of the search results, Microsoft is entitled to 12 percent of revenues generated by ads placed next to the results. However, with revenue per search less than when Yahoo powered its own searches, there are signs that Mayer wants out of the pact.

雅虎的進擊︰併購或存亡的關鍵之戰

對雅虎而言，現在是個非常奇特的時期。自執行長梅莉莎‧梅爾接手已過了一年，公司股價也回升到二○○八年以來的新高。不過，分析師對於梅爾能否重拾雅虎昔日榮光仍抱持審慎的態度。

雅虎於一九九四年由楊致遠和大衛‧費羅共同創立，作為其他網站的分類目錄。不久之後，雅虎就藉著與各大電信品牌合作以及高調的併購行動成為最具識別度的網站之一。在股東不滿的情況下，台灣出生的楊致遠於二○○七年成為執行長。但他的任期因抗拒微軟的惡意收購、人才出走以及投資人信心動搖等問題而蒙上污點。

微軟於二○一○年再次加入戰局，簽訂一份為期十年的合約，允許雅虎在其網站上使用繽紛搜尋引擎。雖然雅虎對搜尋結果的呈現方式保有控制權，但搜尋結果旁的廣告所帶來的營收卻有 12% 歸微軟所有。然而因為每次搜尋為雅虎帶來的收入比過去採用自家搜尋引擎時還少，有跡象顯示梅爾想擺脫這項協議。

資料來源：biz 互動英語電子報