The PR read that Yahoo is acquiring a company but shutting down its product and getting only 2 of their engineers for 30 million dollars. PR like that gets Yahoo's name in the press but does nothing to improve the image that Yahoo has no idea what it's doing.
I think that's true, but only true to those people who read (or remembered or understood) beyond "Yahoo buys hot new company, hot new technology, hot new talent". The PR implication is that Yahoo is investing in once again being hot and new.
For those of us who understand the details of the company and product being bought, Yahoo's reputation was already entrenched. For the majority of readers, however, "hot new Yahoo" was the takeaway[1].
[1] Based on my experience as a journalist / writer, and the half dozen people who raised Summly in conversation with me the week the acquisition went public.
IMHO, any non-tech person who read that bit of news will likely have never heard of Summly, and will only remember the age bit. Which kind of makes it all read as "Yahoo needs help from teenagers" and conjures images of kids roaming around the company.
How does this perceived misuse of funds and focus impact Yahoo employees? Their moral, productivity, and general satisfaction/enthusiasm?
Does it make it easier to attract great new hires who meet Mayer's hiring standards? (http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-employees-worry-that-ma...)
Brand marketing has real value, but this has got to be the least efficient way to do it.
Possibly because the local media here found an Australian angle, this was above the fold news (today's version of front page!) across a number of mainstream news networks where I am. So it reached a lot of the desired users.
Again - I don't think this was a good way to do it, of course!
I was talking to my friend and I kept on having to stop him every time he went down the "some 17 year kid created..." No one else he chatted with about it was clearing the smoke from the mirrors. Small sample, I know. I just don't buy that this was a Yahoo! story so much as a story about some 17 year old who build "some news summary app."