#2 - "we paid some kid $30m!" Why on earth would that be used for 'recruiting'? Getting me to come be your full time employee by telling me how much you pay outsiders (sometimes for lame tech)?

If Yahoo wants to increase their recruiting power, start rewarding - publicly - internal teams that innovate. Start a $50m innovation fund, and reward internal teams for demonstrating initiative, problem solving, innovative solutions, bold new idea, etc.