[will_brown]

>That’s why she has spent $2 billion on acquisitions, most notably the $1.1 billion for Tumblr, which instantly gave Yahoo a credible entry into social networking and user-generated content. (It was, in fact, a Tumblr post that was Patient Zero in “The Dress” contagion that ate the Internet last week.)

I think the above excerpt, is a good reflection of what I believe the OP means by defending MM.

It may be unfair to try to sum up MM's time as CEO in terms of acquisitions, but its simply what the media has highlighted and I am sure Yahoo wants the media banging that drum for all its worth. Therefore, if the biggest argument for the $1.1B Tumblr acquisition is pointing to the latest viral post, I consider that running to her defense. From the tone of this article, the stockholders are demanding cost savings (sounds like less employees), new revenue streams and a general direction for the company. For better or worse the CEO is responsible for making the stockholders happy, I personally think Yahoo's niche could be in privacy - give users alternatives to Google, Facebook, Gmail, cloud storage with a focus on what people want...privacy. IMHO Yahoo has always had a respectable focus on the cross section of technology, privacy and human rights (maybe one of the first in tech to create a human rights program).

[spydum]

privacy typically does not drive revenue up, unless you are violating it. this might be something your social circle claims to want, but if you look at the "average" person, they have next to zero concern for their privacy.

[ccvannorman]

New startup idea: convert existing privacy-apathetic customers of big companies like Google/Yahoo into privacy-aware customers who fear their data or identity being stolen, then sell conversions to a Google/Yahoo competitor who values privacy more highly.

If fear mongering works for wars, it should work for tech company privacy concerns meets mass consumerism!

/s .. or is it?

[will_brown]

>this might be something your social circle claims to want,

Professionally I practice law so yes, myself and my colleagues are concerned about government entities violating not just privacy but the attorney client-privilege...though I digress and this is not what I am talking about, but it does happen.

>but if you look at the "average" person, they have next to zero concern for their privacy.

The "average" person isn't using Yahoo, that's why it would be a niche. I'll leave you with a interesting quote: "A search engine whose users consisted of the top 10,000 hackers and no one else would be in a very powerful position despite its small size, just as Google was when it was that search engine."[1]

[1]http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.html

[spydum]

It's an interesting thought for sure, I just don't see how you sell it to shareholders. If I had to make a baseless assumption, I'd say the bulk of yahoos users are seniors who moved on from AOL, and don't know any difference.

I would be really interesting to see yahoos audience demographics to confirm or deny that though.. Perhaps they have a larger international audience I'm not aware of.