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At the end of 2005, when Yahoo's stock broke through $40. That was the peak of Semel's tenure. A few small acquisitions such as Flickr, the photo service, had given Yahoo a dash of glamor. And that drew attention away from the company's defeat in search.
For Terry Semel, the former Hollywood studio exec, the entertainment business was still his first love. Here, he's pictured with Taylor Swift, the aspiring country singer, at her Sunnyvale performance.
I suppose Semel was trying to inject some glamor into Yahoo or prove the company's credentials as a media company. But this photo opportunity, showing Yahoo's boss, arm-wrestling with Tom Cruise, became an unfortunate symbol of a company that had lost its way. The company was being trounced in search, Sunnyvale veterans balked at the expense of Yahoo's Hollywood adventure -- and Semel still expected them to be impressed by his superstar buddies.
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