Yahoo will offer its 500 million users something new to look at as they plan to revamp several sections of their site, including their home page, over the next few months. Yahoo has had its troubles over that last two years. They have lost search relevance to Google, they have watched Facebook and MySpace add users to their services and that has not gone unnoticed in their pocketbook. Such troubles prompted an unsolicited takeover offer from Microsoft that was sidestepped by Yahoo shareholders. Microsoft"s last offer was at $33 per share while Yahoo"s stock closed yesterday under $19. Perhaps this is when Yahoo plans to fight back.
This will be their first redesign of their home page in over two years. The new design will focus on customizable mini-applications known commonly as widgets. Yahoo also intends to reach out to competitors including their advertising partnership with Google and by including media from iTunes and Amazon into their Yahoo! Music offerings.
Several weeks ago, Facebook began to offer their own site redesign but initially the use of the new design was optional. That option will end this week as Facebook will make the new design mandatory.