????雅虎公司（Yahoo）推崇的核心價(jià)值觀包括“樂(lè)趣”,、“社區(qū)”，“卓越”（也就是該公司所稱的“誠(chéng)信制勝”）,。很遺憾,，其中沒(méi)有包括“挑釁”、“對(duì)抗”和“疏遠(yuǎn)”這類字眼,，否則,，今年堪稱首席執(zhí)行官司考特?湯普森濃墨重彩的一年。

????湯普森于今年一月初加入雅虎,，之前為購(gòu)物網(wǎng)站易趣（eBay）在線支付平臺(tái)貝寶（PayPal）的業(yè)務(wù)負(fù)責(zé)人。他表示,，為了扭轉(zhuǎn)這家互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司的局面,，他已經(jīng)感受到了“真真切切的緊迫感”。他是雅虎五年來(lái)的第五任首席執(zhí)行官,。這五年里，雅虎經(jīng)歷了拒絕微軟公司（Microsoft）收購(gòu)要約之后的股價(jià)暴跌,；此外，由于公司在日益發(fā)展的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)領(lǐng)域逐漸被邊緣化,，股價(jià)已持續(xù)數(shù)年在每股15美元左右震蕩。

????為了兌現(xiàn)自己的諾言,，湯普森在接手雅虎的頭三個(gè)月內(nèi)就采取了一系列大膽的行動(dòng),。在這個(gè)過(guò)程中,，他的裁員之說(shuō)震動(dòng)了雅虎上上下下,；同時(shí)，他還準(zhǔn)備與董事會(huì)進(jìn)行代理權(quán)爭(zhēng)奪戰(zhàn),；此外，他對(duì)社交網(wǎng)站Facebook發(fā)起的專利訴訟也激怒了很多硅谷的電子技術(shù)公司同行,。這些舉措能否幫助雅虎脫離困境目前尚不明朗，倒是提升了外界對(duì)公司的關(guān)注度,。

????我們好像已經(jīng)很久沒(méi)有看到雅虎在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)有過(guò)什么引人關(guān)注的舉動(dòng)了,。早前，雅虎熬過(guò)了互聯(lián)網(wǎng)發(fā)展初期的動(dòng)蕩歲月,，成為至今依然碩果僅存的一家所謂的“門戶網(wǎng)站”,，并因此而聲名遠(yuǎn)播。雅虎廣受歡迎的網(wǎng)站特色已成為當(dāng)今網(wǎng)絡(luò)的主流,，用戶能夠簡(jiǎn)單便捷地獲取包括電子郵件,、各類新聞,、時(shí)尚運(yùn)動(dòng)以及財(cái)經(jīng)數(shù)據(jù)等方面的信息,。

????然而,，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)發(fā)展日新月異，到了2005年,，社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)已毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)地成為未來(lái)的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)。雅虎再次將自己定位為早期領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者,，并收購(gòu)了網(wǎng)絡(luò)相簿公司Flickr的照片共享業(yè)務(wù)和社交書(shū)簽網(wǎng)站del.icio.us,。從此,，網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨頭雅虎轉(zhuǎn)變成了社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)領(lǐng)域的先行者,。雅虎還通過(guò)其開(kāi)發(fā)人員網(wǎng)絡(luò)培養(yǎng)了一大批程序員,。

????但由于雅虎內(nèi)部存在著嚴(yán)重的官僚主義問(wèn)題，沒(méi)過(guò)不久,，這些本來(lái)很有發(fā)展前景的計(jì)劃全部夭折。雅虎也因?yàn)榕c微軟公司之間曠日持久的收購(gòu)戰(zhàn)而變得心浮氣躁,。此后,，谷歌（Google）以及后來(lái)的Facebook相繼成為了網(wǎng)絡(luò)創(chuàng)新的引領(lǐng)者,，而雅虎似乎并未展開(kāi)什么行動(dòng),。過(guò)去的三到四年中,，除了雅虎前首席執(zhí)行官卡羅爾?巴爾茨曾對(duì)公司發(fā)表的坦率而富有爭(zhēng)議的評(píng)論之外，實(shí)際上,，雅虎就像是一朵正在迅速凋零的玫瑰。

????然而,，情況在本月發(fā)生了變化。湯普森正在展現(xiàn)他折騰的本領(lǐng),。首先，有報(bào)告表明，湯普森的重組計(jì)劃可能導(dǎo)致雅虎14,000名員工中的數(shù)千人被裁員,。之后,，他出人意料地取消了將于佛羅里達(dá)舉辦的1,300名銷售人員大會(huì),。接下來(lái),，他又發(fā)布了一份備忘,，鼓勵(lì)員工更加努力和高效地工作,，試圖緩解彌漫于公司內(nèi)部的緊張情緒,。

????上周，雅虎與Facebook協(xié)商許可費(fèi)用短短半個(gè)月之后,，突然對(duì)后者提起了訴訟,，指責(zé)對(duì)方侵犯了包括廣告、隱私權(quán),、信息傳送和社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)在內(nèi)的十項(xiàng)專利,。雅虎在一夜之間成為互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)最受詬病的專利流氓，人們譴責(zé)雅虎企圖用“可悲的”,、“孤注一擲的”手段來(lái)阻撓比它更加靈活,、機(jī)敏的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。

????Yahoo's core values include "fun," "community" and "excellence" (which the company defines as "winning with integrity"). It's too bad they don't include "provocation," "confrontation" and "alienation" - because then CEO Scott Thompson would be having a banner year.

????Thompson left eBay (EBAY) as head of PayPal to lead Yahoo (YHOO) in early January, saying he felt a "real sense of urgency" to turn things around at the web company. He was the company's fifth CEO in five years, a period that saw Yahoo's stock plunge after rejecting a takeover bid by Microsoft (MSFT) and vacillate around the $15 a share level for years as the company grew more marginal in an increasingly social web.

????True to his word, Thompson began a series of bold initiatives less than three months into the job. In the process, he's roiled the ranks inside Yahoo with talks of layoffs, set the stage for a proxy battle with the board and angered many peers in Silicon Valley with a patent lawsuit against Facebook. It's far from clear that these moves will help turn Yahoo around. But they've already made the company a lot more interesting.

????It seems like years since Yahoo has done anything to capture the web industry's interest. Early on, Yahoo was notable as the only so-called "web portal" that survived the first, volatile years of the web. It succeeded with popular features that have become mainstays of the web today: web mail, news aggregation, fantasy sports and financial data – all of them simple and easy to access.

????But the web evolves quickly and by 2005, social networking was clearly the future. Here again, Yahoo positioned itself as an early leader, buying Flickr's photo-sharing and del.icio.us's social bookmarking site, turning the web giant into an early leader in social networking. And it cultivated a community of coders with its Developers Network.

????But soon enough, all of these promising initiatives seemed to suffocate inside Yahoo's bureaucratic miasma, and the company became distracted by the high drama of a protracted takeover battle with Microsoft. Since then, Yahoo has seemed adrift as Google (GOOG) and then Facebook set the agenda for web innovation. For the past three or four years, barring some frank and controversial comments by ex-CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo has been as exciting as a rose losing its bloom.

????But that has changed this month. Thompson is showing himself to be a CEO with a talent for tipping over apple carts. First came reports that Thompson's restructuring could cost thousands of Yahoo's 14,000 employees their jobs. He abruptly cancelled a Florida meeting for 1,300 Yahoo sales employees. Then he tried to soothe workplace tension with a memo hectoring employees into working harder and faster.

????Last week, Yahoo sued Facebook for infringement of 10 patents – including advertising, privacy, messaging and social networking – just two weeks after sitting down with Facebook to discuss licensing fees. Overnight, Yahoo became the web's most reviled patent troll, bilking a more nimble rival in a move decried as "pathetic," "desperate" or worse.