I don't think there is any franchise more powerful than ours around securing the consumer experience and we will not concede that to anyone including Microsoft.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
For a franchise system to work well, you really need people with an entrepreneurial mind-set because, while you have a large, overarching system that everybody has to work with, a lot of local issues have to be handled.
I think audiences ultimately want something new. I think the business model for a franchise is such that it's very low risk because you have data and studios love data.
Maintaining the trust of the consumer is critical to our business. We live and breathe only one thing, which is wanting to connect consumers with great local businesses, and I don't feel we can do that if we don't have effective ways to prevent gaming of the system.
Not only does Yahoo! have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people.
The fact is... our doors have not exactly been knocked down by companies willing to defend Microsoft's business practices.
Once you create a loyal customer base, it's tough for a competitor to take that away.
What we've gone through in the last several years has caused some people to question 'Can we trust Microsoft?'
Microsoft does platform, not really infrastructure, and they do a little bit of Saas.
Well we have a good working relationship with Microsoft at the development level. But let's not kid ourselves, this is a company with enormous resources and talented people, and there is a certain pride that comes along with that for them and for us.
There's nothing magic about working with franchisees. What you have to do is help them improve their business.