• by Kathy Sharpe , April 16, 2009

Yahoo is planning another round of layoffs, hardly a unique occurrence in today's economy. In Yahoo's case, this is the third round in the last year, and would under any other circumstances sound loud alarm bells about the company's overall health.

But with Yahoo, we should take a step back and look at what has been going on for the last several months, considering that a year ago some doubted Yahoo as we knew it would exist today, as it continued its extended disturbing dance with Microsoft.

Late last year, Yahoo co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang announced he'd step down and the Yahoo "search" for a new CEO began. By Yahoo standards, it was an amazingly efficient process, and on Jan. 13, it was announced that Carol Bartz would take over, leaving her post as chairman of the board at Autodesk.

Now just about four months later Yahoo is looking a little different. New product releases, new rules, new people and a new attitude. Within weeks of taking over, Bartz announced a significant restructuring and implied layoffs. The planned cuts, the first under Bartz's watch, could be seen as results of that plan as much as an outcome of the recession.

Also as of last week, we hear of a new and much more real conversation with Microsoft, with the potential for significant payout for Yahoo. What it will ultimately lead too is tough to say, especially as the economy continues to stumble. But here are 10 reasons to feel good about Yahoo:

1) As Yahoo innovates and strengthens it will drive the industry to compete. Saying Google is stodgy would be extreme, but having a 50-point share lead in search doesn't spur new ideas.

2) A stock price in the low double digits, nothing to excite Larry Page's envy, but still respectable. With recent projections of internet advertising growth, indications are pretty good that the company is worthy of investment.

3) They haven't asked Washington for a bailout, nor has any internet company (IBM is not an Internet company). While over the years much fun has been made of the young dudes who created the infamous dot-com bombs, it's unlikely it occurred to any one of them or their investors to run to Uncle Sam to make up the losses. That tactic would be left to men entrusted with the largest most financially influential companies in the nation.

4) Yahoo is slowly stealing share from Google, 2% in January according to comScore. This is great for all of us buying search and could perhaps encourage Google to play a little more fairly with their advertisers.

5) The new restructuring will produce a new structure. Yahoo employees have endured countless restructurings over the past five years with little results. Reports of more burdensome processes and delayed releases abound. A structure that facilitates innovations, trial and potentially error is required. Unfortunately, jobs may be lost in the process, but long term much may be gained.

6) Expanding the role of a CTO at a media company that is dependent on new tech is good. We all know that Yahoo is a MEDIA COMPANY, however, it is a media company that is dependent on the ongoing development of technology to facilitate its delivery of media. All the acquisitions in the world don't matter if someone doesn't know how to make the stuff work, or at least hire the folks who know how to make the stuff work.

7) New products are already showing up, confirming what most of us believed - there was a lot getting done on the Sunnyvale campus, but no decisions about what to do with them. How about take them to market?

8) New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has put everything up for evaluation; giving us hope that Flickr could realize its full potential either as a Yahoo product or elsewhere.

9) Decisions, right or wrong will be based on facts and an analysis of the business, not emotions and personalities.

10) Yahoo is one of the first brands of the Internet. Having it do more than just survive, but thrive just underscores the power of the medium -- even at the risk of the return of their notoriously arrogant sales folks.

The results of all this may not be as immediate or profitable as we'd all like, as shown by the expected layoffs, however, the ground work is there for substantial change or at least enough to feel good today maybe even let out a quiet scream, "YAHOO!"