Former Yahoo COO says the company should go private so it can make 'big, bold bets'
But before Chegg, he cut his teeth as the COO of Yahoo for 5 years. Under his watch, Yahoo expanded its userbase from 200 million to 500 million, and its annual revenue grew from $700 million to roughly $4.5 billion.
So naturally, he has fond memories of Yahoo. And despite all the turmoil surrounding the company now, Rosensweig still believes the company could turn it around.
"Everybody's rooting for their success," Rosensweig said in a TV interview with Bloomberg West on Wednesday. "There's a lot of value that's inherent in what they built and what can be done with it."
Rosensweig pointed out that Yahoo still books $4 billion in revenue and earns $900 million before interest, depreciation, tax, and amortization (EBITDA) - a much higher number than what some of the popular new online media companies are generating. Yet, investors are giving Yahoo's core business almost no value.
Rosensweig believes the company's declining growth partly has to do with all the distractions that come with being a public company, and going private to focus on long term growth could be the answer to turning it around.