Raise the Yangtanic!
Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay appears to have finished Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s 100-day strategic review of the company for him. In a research report issued today, Lindsay suggested Yahoo divide itself into three businesses–display advertising, Web search and subscriptions–to bolster its valuation.
Split up in such a way, Yahoo would be worth nearly $39 a share, or about 44% more than its current price–theoretically, anyway. “It appears that Yahoo will not take bold measures to right the ship,” Lindsay wrote. “We believe that Yahoo still has a potentially high intrinsic value. We believe, however, that to stop the inevitable slide into irrelevance, the management team must consider more radical actions and strategies.”
More radical than inviting 300 employees holding the title of vice-president or higher to a motivational event with Apple CEO Steve Jobs? Yes–sacred cow-slaughtering radical. Otherwise, you’ll be inviting Jobs back again next year, this time for a crowd of 600 VPs.
“We do not believe that Yahoo will alter its current course,” said Lindsay. “We believe that management is committed to a path of incremental revenue improvements which we believe will lock the company into a lower value trajectory.”
