Yahoo, eBay Will Work Together To Boost Revenue

May 25 - KGO (KGO) -- Yahoo and eBay said they'll work together to boost advertising and other sources of revenue.

Hard to believe, but Yahoo is now 11 years old, making it old dog, senior citizen by Silicon Valley measures. At today's shareholder meeting, top executives said the best is yet to come, even with tough competition from rivals such as Google.

It's the one time a year that small investors can gather and hear directly from top management.

Yahoo is still the number one web site. It claims 500 million people visit yahoo every month around the world.

Shareholders learned how Yahoo has updated its home page, improved its popular email service, and is looking for ways to boost advertising revenue.

Yahoo Shareholder: "They keep re-inventing themselves. When you look at General Motors and some of the other companies, they've really had to struggle. But Yahoo they're looking five, 10 years out. They see the big picture."

Yahoo executives said they're planning to be big in China. But that raised criticism how Yahoo's cooperation with Chinese authorities may have put a journalist and others in prison.

Anthony Cruz represents Amnesty International and challenged Yahoo chairman Terry Semel:

"I asked him specifically, would he call on the Chinese government to release these prisoners in China, and there was not a 'yes' or 'no' answer, so, no, I wasn't satisfied."

Other shareholders recognize yahoo is caught in a tough spot.

Dick Hackenberg from Berkeley: "I don't know that they could actually come out and challenge the Chinese government. I don't think that would have been prudent from a business standpoint. But certainly from a human rights and a moral standpoint, under the mission that yahoo has, I would have liked to hear something more specific about that case."

A retired teacher thinks Yahoo should be reaching out to students.

Lillian Reiter: "These children come home with these names, like Google, Google. And I didn't hear Yahoo as much as I heard Google."

Yahoo shareholders clearly see Google as its main competition.

We did request interviews with Yahoo senior executives, but they turned us down.

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•