Speed, decentralisation key to Yahoo's recovery, says CEO

Ailing internet giant follows the Google model to renewed growth. But it may be missing a trick

Yahoo has announced a new organisational structure, and speed to market is the key to the portal's recovery, said CEO Scott Thompson (pictured).

The move follows Yahoo's announcement of 14 per cent staff cutbacks last week. Thompson made the comments in an internal announcement to staff.

Thompson is shifting Yahoo away from the highly centralised model for new product development that the company has been following in recent years.

In an era where apps can be developed by small teams quickly and sold for a billion dollars - as Instagram was to Facebook yesterday - Yahoo needs to be able to move more swiftly to compete. It has appeared unable to do so in reecent years.

Thompson has announced the creation of a new consumer group, where products can be hothoused and developed swiftly by autonomous teams. The move is akin to Google's internal structure, where new ideas are allowed to bubble to the surface.

Consumer applications appear to be at the core of Thompson's thinking - despite the fact that many of the portal's most useful functions have a business and finance focus.

There is a risk of the business user being overlooked in a collective rush for the consumer dollar, which would leave the enterprise market for data, portal and social media services relatively poorly served.