Yahoo 2008 Annual Report Download - page 9

Part I
Item 1. Business
OVERVIEW
Yahoo! Inc., together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“Yahoo!,” the “Company,” “our,” “we,” or “us”), is a
leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused
on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable
experiences built on trust. Together with our owned and operated online properties and services (“Yahoo!
Properties” or “Owned and Operated sites”), we also provide our advertising offerings and access to Internet
users beyond Yahoo! through our distribution network of third-party entities (“Affiliates”), who have integrated
our advertising offerings into their Websites, referred to as Affiliate sites, or their other offerings. We generate
revenues by providing marketing services to advertisers across a majority of Yahoo! Properties and Affiliate
sites. Additionally, although many of the services we provide to our users are free, we do charge fees for a range
of premium services.
The core of our strategy and operations is to become the starting point for Internet users; to provide must buy
marketing solutions for the world’s largest advertisers; and to deliver industry-leading open platforms that attract
developers and publishers.
We provide several key starting points where Internet users start their daily online activity, through such services as
the Yahoo! Home Page; Search; and Mail; and through our mobile solutions, such as Yahoo! Go. We are focused on
expanding our communities of users and deepening their engagement on Yahoo! Properties by offering compelling
Internet services and effectively integrating search, community, personalization, and content to create a powerful
user experience. We believe that expanding our communities of users will enhance the value of our users to
advertisers and lead to increased spending by advertisers on our Owned and Operated sites and Affiliate sites.
We provide a range of marketing services that make it easier and more effective for advertisers and marketers to
reach and connect with users who visit Yahoo! Properties and our Affiliate sites. We believe that our marketing
services enable advertisers to deliver highly relevant marketing messages to their target audiences.
We attract developers and publishers with an array of innovative and easily accessible Web services, technical
resources, tools, and channels enabling them to easily create innovative applications and consumer experiences
through the Yahoo! Open Strategy (“Y!OS”).
Yahoo! was developed and first made available in 1994 by our founders, David Filo and Jerry Yang, while they
were graduate students at Stanford University. We were incorporated in 1995 and are a Delaware corporation.
We are headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and have offices in more than 25 countries, provinces, or
territories in which Yahoo! conducts business by offering products or services to local audiences.
Management and Board of Directors Changes
Following our annual meeting and election of directors on August 1, 2008, Robert Kotick resigned from our
Board of Directors (our “Board”) and Carl Icahn was appointed to our Board to fill the vacancy. In addition, on
August 14, 2008, our Board was expanded from 9 to 11 directors and Frank Biondi, Jr. and John Chapple were
appointed as directors.
On January 13, 2009, we announced that Jerry Yang had stepped down as our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”)
and returned to his former role as Chief Yahoo and that Carol Bartz had been appointed as our new CEO.
Mr. Yang continues to serve on our Board, and on January 13, 2009, our Board was expanded from 11 to 12
directors and Ms. Bartz was appointed as a director. On January 13, 2009, we announced that Sue Decker
indicated she would resign after a transition period. Ms. Decker’s date of resignation will be April 1, 2009. On
February 26, 2009, we announced that Blake Jorgensen, Chief Financial Officer of the Company, will be leaving
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