AOL (and) Yahoo (have) joined the ranks of the Web’s walking dead—not yet in the ground, but hearts barely beating—alongside other former stars such as Myspace, Digg, and RealNetworks. Yahoo and AOL have tried to live by Old Media rules while masquerading as New Media powerhouses. They have been and continue to be successful at building audiences... But unlike Google or Facebook, Yahoo and AOL earn revenues the old-fashioned way—by employing rafts of reporters and maintaining costly ad sales teams to make sure the articles and deals keep flowing... says Citigroup’s Mahaney. “There’s no real way for them to lock in customers.” As a result, Yahoo and AOL have to spend a lot just to keep pace.. With less of a cash cushion, it’s hard to focus on new markets.
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