西部落：雅虎CEO访谈

Terry S.Semel，Chairman & CEO, Yahoo!,Inc

Terry Semel capped a long career at Warner Bros. He cleared the Bugs¹ out of Yahoo! and solidified² its stature³ as the Web's No. 1 information portal.

Terry Semel walked into Yahoo six years ago as an outsider.

"When you came to Yahoo, you didn't know much about that technology, is that right?"

"That's very true, very true. But I knew about business, and Yahoo is also a business."

Today the former Hollywood mogul knows a little more the crucial technology behind yahoo like this server farm at the company's headquarters.

"If you're collecting things like mail or photos, and others. They are stored on these servers."

An accountant by training and the product of Brooklyn and Queens, Semel says his mother groomed⁴ him for leadership.

"I had a very supportive mother who would often say you know you could do it,you could do anything,you know, you could be the president of United States. And of coures I came home with bad grades and she said don't let that bother you."

Semel honed his deal-making skills over more than 30 years at Warner Brothers. In fact Hollywood had a name for it, getting Semelized. He and co-CEO Bob Daly transformed the studios into a diverse media company growing annual revenues from less than a billion dollars to nearly 11 billion dollars during their reign⁵. After leaving Warner Brothers in 1999,Semel met Jerry Yang,one of the co-founders of Yahoo while attending a conference and the two became friends.

One day online he said "would you like to be our CEO,our CEO has left". I said no, I'm really not really interested in a job,I don't really want to work for people. And I went home and I thought about it for a few days and I thought that's exactly what I'd like to do.

Yahoo was founded by Yang and David Filo when the two was still students at Stanford. The company came to symbolize⁶ the Internet counter-culture of the late 90s, even down to its name.

"Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle⁷."

Yahoo was flying high when the Internet bubble burst, the company lost 93 million dollars in 2001. After then CEO Tim Koogle stepped down, Yang convinced the board to hire Semel. Silicon⁸ Valley was a big adjustment for an executive more accustomed to power lunches and Hollywood limelight. But Semel was there to figure out how Yahoo could make money and he made believers of his younger colleagues. The new business model boosted Yahoo's bottom line almost immediately.

"And then 2003 2004 recorded profits, you know, nobody could say enough good things about Terry Semel."

"Right, then 2005 and 6 came and they said wow, what's happening."

What happened was google, which became a powerful competitor after going public in 2004.

"Google came from virtually nowhere to dominate lucrative⁹ search advertising¹⁰. And lately it has been beating Terry Semel at his own game--deal-making, outbidding Yahoo for some key acquisitions like YouTube."

Despite losing out on YouTube and other sites, Yahoo is still by far the most popular website on the Internet. But google is the most profitable.

"This is personal searching for American Idol¹¹"

Yahoo is trying to catch up in search advertising with a project called Panama and the stakes are high.

"The problem is that Google just has some so much momentum¹², so much money that anything next to them looks kind of pale. And google itself is also expanding into all kinds of things that Yahoo is already doing too."

Some think Yahoo may need to partner with someone, perhaps Microsoft to get ahead. But Semel with years of corporate¹³ ups and downs under his belt is keeping his eye on the long term.

"What's been the best part about coming to Yahoo and Silicon Valley?"

"Well, it's learning, and basically, helping¹⁴ to change the world."

Changing the world by connecting millions of people, one click at a time.

In Sunnyvale California, I'm Ceci Rodgers for CEO exchange.

1 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 solidified   

（使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化

参考例句：

• Her attitudes solidified through privilege and habit. 由于特权和习惯使然，她的看法变得越来越难以改变。
• When threatened, he fires spheres of solidified air from his launcher! 当危险来临，他就会发射它的弹药！

3 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

4 groomed   

v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• She is always perfectly groomed. 她总是打扮得干净利落。
• Duff is being groomed for the job of manager. 达夫正接受训练，准备当经理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

6 symbolize   

vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表

参考例句：

• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。
• Dolphins symbolize the breath of life.海豚象征着生命的气息。

7 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

8 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

9 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 idol   

n.偶像，红人，宠儿

参考例句：

• As an only child he was the idol of his parents.作为独子，他是父母的宠儿。
• Blind worship of this idol must be ended.对这个偶像的盲目崇拜应该结束了。

12 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

13 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。