Yahoo Teams up with CNBC

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Yahoo Teams up with CNBC

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)  announced this morning that they have partnered with CNBC to bring a more updated look to their Yahoo Finance page, which will now feature CNBC articles and videos.  The struggling search maker also said that, starting immediately, Yahoo Finance will have a CNBC-sponsored breaking news ticker.

CNBC is a popular financial cable television station that is predominantly stock market based.  The station is operated under the NBCUniversal umbrella which is owned by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).  Some of the station’s popular shows include “Fast Money”, “Power Lunch”, “Mad Money with Jim Cramer”, etc.

This is the first big news out of Yahoo since Daniel Loeb and his fund, Third Point, were successful at firing then-CEO Scott Thompson and then placing himself on the board of directors.  It is not completely clear how involved Mr. Loeb was in this new partnership but you can certainly expect more upbeat news going forward.

If you remember, back in October 2011, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was deciding on a possible bid for Yahoo.  Unfortunately for Yahoo, Google ended up pulling out due to the increased liability they would face.

Yahoo has been struggling for almost a decade now because of their inability to find a solid CEO that can successfully lead.  In the process, Yahoo fell out of relevancy as competitors evolved and began branching out.

However, after this latest coup of the board may prove, Loeb and his team could help guide Yahoo towards a more prominent path; along with helping the company find a quality CEO to lead.  This alone right here could be the beginning of the bullish case for Yahoo.  Yahoo’s problem has always been leadership and now that they have fell victim to a “hedge fund intervention”, this might just be what the company needs to get back on its feet.

They need to start small and not expect a fast turn around.  The search industry is highly competitive and vastly dominated.  However, with these small partnerships with CNBC and ABC News, the uniqueness and change could bring more users to the Finance section, at least.  Yahoo just needs to focus on regaining its traffic and the best way to do that is uniqueness of the content and ideas.

The bottom line here is that post-Scott Thompson Yahoo appears to have the right mindset, however, there is still much to be proven before Yahoo is a serious player in the technology sector.

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