He Won’t Go

The industry is a-buzzin’ that Terry Semel may leave Yahoo to go run Disney. Here’s my prediction: No f’ing way. Or put another way: Only if he’s insane. Yahoo’s running on all pistons, has significant upside potential, and points toward the future. Disney, well, Disney isn’t doing any of those things.

We’ve seen this picture before, it was called “Barry Diller Isn’t Really Serious About the Internet, Is He?”

Well, turns out, he is.

H’wood is all about power, and sure, Disney is a power play. But who do you think is going to be more powerful in five or ten years, Disney, or Yahoo? A silly question five years ago, but now?

Semel made his bed when he decided to leave H’wood, and now he’s sleeping very well, thank you. If he leaves, it would be a huge surprise to me, and a big mistake for him, IMHO. Leave the dinosaurs to fight over theme parks, lame network sitcoms, and bad films. Companies like Yahoo are in the pole position for the next big wave in media.