Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Google Inc (GOOG) & A Collection of Links

This isn’t That

In the end, the problem wasn’t that change couldn’t happen, it was that Penney’s wasn’t Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Doing the things that might have worked at Apple didn’t properly account for J.C. Penney’s culture and capabilities, and, perhaps more importantly, its customers.

Yahoo! isn’t Google. Trying to make Yahoo! more nimble is probably a good move on Mayer’s part. However, she needs to focus on what makes Yahoo! special, not what made her former company special. While some might view the failed bid for Dailymotion as a setback, it could turn into a benefit for Yahoo!, by forcing Mayer to focus more on righting the core business.

Keep an eye on Mayer’s slow-moving turnaround. The company has plenty of time and money to get things right. If it does, its shares’ recent advance could be just the start. Momentum investors might want to take a look. That said, a rumored purchase of video-streaming site Hulu would completely alter Yahoo’s makeup, and probably not in a good way.

Those interested in high-flying Google shares might want to examine the company’s margins, which have fallen dramatically over the last year because mobile ads aren’t as profitable as online ads. The addition of Motorola’s patent library, while providing insurance on the Android front, has also been a margin killer. These issues could lead to results that disappoint the market.

The article Video Deal Falls Through, Thank Goodness originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Reuben Brewer.