• The Hollywood Reporter, Tuesday, October 24, 2006 11:46 AM

New media has been split into two camps: the haves and the have-nots. Google, Apple Computer and News Corp. are on the plus side of that spectrum, while Yahoo, Time Warner and possibly eBay languish on the minus side. The contrast between these media companies--one analyst called it "pretty amazing"--is stunning, especially in a week of quarterly earnings and other announcements."

Google once again crushed its earnings, and its stock is again soaring near $500--while Yahoo, as expected, petered out in the third quarter, its profit falling 38 percent, and its whole business model again coming into question.

Why? While Google continues to deliver solid results in its core business (while expanding into new territory like service applications and video), Yahoo is stuck trying to be "all things to all people," which has stretched its business thin in content, services, and search.

The good news for Yahoo is that Panama (its revamped search ad system) is finally out, and other smart ad acquisitions, like rich media provider Adinterax, should mean that growth is on the horizon--but not this year. The Web portal said earnings would be well below what Wall Street expected. Some analysts think it needs to acquire a niche audience to get itself out of the fire; specialty Web sites like TheKnot.com, Bankrate.com or the expensive Facebook.com come to mind. Time Warner's AOL is in just about the same boat, although it has made strides forward by shifting its business model to an ad-supported content provider. Now it just needs good, sticky content.

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