Yahoo’s Internal Woes Splash onto WSJ Front Page

At the heart of Saturday’s front-page story in the Wall Street Journal on calls for change from within Yahoo is Yahoo SVP of Communications Brad Garlinghouse’s four-page internal memo dubbed the “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which refers to how Yahoo spreads investments too thin across too many businesses.

The memo, which apparently began circulating last month, decries the lack of a focused strategy, according to paidContent.org (via MarketingVox), which cites the Journal article. Garlinghouse, who joined Yahoo in 2003 as a VP, wrote the memo as a result of a post-GooTube article in the New York Times in early October that reportedly acted as a wake-up call for the SVP.

Some of the solutions he offers: Stop trying to be all things to all people and exit non-core businesses and eliminate duplication; “Existing business owners must be held accountable for where we find ourselves today - heads must roll”; “We must redesign our performance and incentive systems. I believe there are too many BU (business unit) leaders who have gotten away with unacceptable results and worse - unacceptable leadership”; and he urges eliminating the current structure and all redundancies.

Garlinghouse has apparently been asked by Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig to head a group with a two-month charter to look into the issues he raised.