back to article Dying! Yahoo! writes! off! half! of! the! $1bn! it! paid! for! Tumblr!

Yahoo! fell short of already-low expectations as the shriveling internet icon continues to limp towards its impending sale. CEO Marissa Mayer had no update on the Purple Palace's quest for a buyer, but said the company was still working on the sale of its core business. "In addition to our efforts to improve the operating …

  1. Mark 85

    $55 million for an exit package....

    Maybe the Alibaba thing was worth it... the rest, not so much. But then I'm not shareholder or director. Buy the time they sell, the company may very well be worth less than her exit package. I gotta' feel sorry for anyone who's left and not a contractor. Correction... anyone who's left and not manglement or a contractor.

  2. J 3
    Devil

    Desperation

    So that is why damn Yahoo Mail is playing videos automatically on the page that loads after emptying the spam folder? I think there is a special place in hell for people who design pages that have auto-playing videos.

    OK, I don't think there is such a silly thing as hell, but it is at times like this that I wish there was.

    1. 's water music
      Joke

      Re: Desperation

      OK, I don't think there is such a silly thing as hell, but it is at times like this that I wish there was.

      Which circle for the subjunctive avoiders? Vote now.

      [ ] 1

      [ ] 2

      [ ] 3

      [ ] 4

      [ ] 5

      [ ] 6

      [ ] 7

      1. Hollerithevo

        Re: Desperation

        Not enough down. Wot about

        [ ] 9

      2. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken
        Coat

        Re: Desperation / which circle

        Not sure of the number... pretty sure though it's the same the grammar Nazis are in... mine's the one with the comic version of the Inferno in the pocket.

    2. paulf
      Mushroom

      Re: Desperation

      @J 3 "So that is why damn Yahoo Mail is playing videos automatically on the page that loads after emptying the spam folder?"

      I spotted the video playing about a month ago. Unintended consequence? I no longer bother to empty the spam folder, just mark things as read. If others are doing the same I suspect the storage requirement becomes significant...

      I have an old Yahoo mail address which I now use as my burner account - handy for people that demand an email for click and collect just so they can spam you. For a while I had the paid for remote access but gave that up when I realised the IMAP access is free to everyone - they only charge for POP access!

    3. JoeF

      Re: Desperation

      "Cannot play video. This video requires Flash. Verify Flash is not disabled or blocked, then reload the page."

      A Hallelujah for flash blocker.

  3. Youngone Silver badge

    Please don't close Tumblr

    It's one of the funniest places on the Internet.

    I'd miss it even if no-one else does.

    1. CAPS LOCK

      Tumblr funny?...

      ... smutty certainly but funny? Please direct me to these funny Tumblrs...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm amazed that hosting angsty tween blogs and hipster poetry doesn't generate more revenue.

    1. Darryl

      Never before have so many with so little to say said so much to so few.

      (One of my favourite Despair.com demotivators)

    2. Captain DaFt

      "I'm amazed that hosting angsty tween blogs and hipster poetry doesn't generate more revenue."

      It's not for lack of badly trying.

      The pre-Yahoo! Tumblr sites still load normally.

      The Yahoo! era Tumblr sites tend to not work correctly if you have ads and tracking disabled with your browser.

      Add to that the Tumblr patrons that left when Yahoo! acquired it, and the many that were banned with no warning and no reason ever given, It's no wonder Tumblr's losing ever more and more value.

      It used to be a lively place for opinions, good and bad, art, discussion, and general WTF'kery, but it's been turned into a Yahoo! Groups clone.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    A revenue of $1.3bn (or even $1.05bn after removing the effects of accountancy, aka sponsored lying) is not to be sneered at, although for the life of me, I have no idea what Yahoo! actually does to get this money in. Even if the costs exceed the revenue, somewhere, somehow, some part of Yahoo! makes money. Perhaps in the same way that the hair still grows for a while on recent corpses.

    1. DavCrav

      "Perhaps in the same way that the hair still grows for a while on recent corpses."

      More apt a metaphor than you know, because it isn't true, it just appears that way...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Any idiot can achieve revenue of $1,300m if they're prepared to lose $400m doing so. It seems perfectly reasonable to sneer at that as an achievement - or a business, for that matter.

      1. DavCrav

        "Any idiot can achieve revenue of $1,300m if they're prepared to lose $400m doing so. It seems perfectly reasonable to sneer at that as an achievement - or a business, for that matter."

        Indeed. I cannot remember who said that the easiest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire and buy a football club.

  6. Roq D. Kasba

    Yahoo's core business

    The article references it but I don't honestly know what it means. I can't imagine it's made a penny from being Yet Another Hierarchically Organised Oracle (or similar backronym) for a while, and that's what it's core business was - a listings site.

    Funny to think one day we'll be saying the same about Facebook.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: Yahoo's core business

      Yahoo!'s problem is that it never had an actual business, it just had activity that it failed to properly monetize while spending what it managed to earn without focus or vision.

      1. Valeyard

        Re: Yahoo's core business

        Yahoo!'s problem is that it never had an actual business, it just had activity that it failed to properly monetize while spending what it managed to earn without focus or vision.

        business as usual in silicon valley..

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The end of the Yahoo toolbar

    Thank God

  8. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    What's wrong with this statement?

    Andrew Frank, research vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner…

    Answers on a postcard please.

    1. TheOtherHobbes

      Re: What's wrong with this statement?

      You should see their undistinguished analysts.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    'Still some value there'

    oh for fucks sake, die at last, will you!

    1. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

      Re: 'Still some value there'

      It's dead already. The perception that it is still moving is an illusion - it's a bloated corpse bobbing in the water. But there still is that winning lottery ticket in one of the pockets... so the grieving relatives gather at the shore and try to figure out how to reel in the body and swipe the ticket before it's too late, and all without getting their hands dirty...

    2. DavCrav

      Re: 'Still some value there'

      'Still some value there'

      The point is that someone, somewhere, is giving it money, although I can't imagine why. If that bit can be saved, and the rest junked, maybe it's a viable business.

      They've written down half of the money they bought Tumblr for, so they are halfway to appraising that part of the business correctly, at least.

  10. breakfast Silver badge

    I met an HTTP client from an antique IP Address...

    "And on the pedestal, these words appear:

    My name is Yahoo! Weakest of search engines!

    Look! on! my! Works! ye! Mighty! and despair!

    Nothing beside remains..."

  11. Darryl

    I need to point out

    ...that is the most apt in-article stock image El Reg has ever used.

    1. 9Rune5

      Re: I need to point out

      I disagree. The flames would not look like that if the fireman had been pouring gasoline over the flames.

  12. A. N. Other 1
    Alert

    Positive Thinking

    Look on the bright side - the global shortage of exclamation marks will soon become a non-problem!

    Now if only we could solve the apostrophe shortage caused by illiterates who don't know the difference between it's and its. Of course El Reg commentards are, by definition, literate!!

    (insert annoying grinning emoji in your chosen colour)

  13. Stevie

    Bah!

    A four hundred and eighty two dollar write down doesn't seem excessive to me. I spent more than that on Amazon this year buying useless tat.

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