Sunnyvale, California — Taking stock of its weak and underperforming services, Carol Bartz continues to strike a blow at Yahoo. The Sunnyvale, Calif. Web pioneer said it is pulling the shutter on its online-video start-up service “Maven Networks,” which it purchased last year for $160 million, as part of a broader strategy to minify noncore properties.
According to TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters, the move to shutter Maven comes barely a year and a half later. Maven is a supplier of online video players and video advertising tools. The company has said that it is planning to “wind down its customer base.”
Maven Networks was admitted into Yahoo’s arsenal to help improve the quality of Yahoo’s own video technology, as well as build video-serving technology for external companies.
Yahoo said in a statement late Monday that video enterprise remain a top priority for the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Web giant, but that it was “increasing investment in some areas while scaling back in others.”
“This decision will allow us to focus our resources on the continued improvement of our core video offerings, such as enhancing the consumer video experience on Yahoo!,” the company said in a statement. “Since Q4 2008, we have closed or announced our intention to close, nearly twenty Yahoo! Services — such as Yahoo! 360, GeoCities, My Web and Yahoo! Briefcase. We continue to evaluate our portfolio of products and services on a regular basis, and plan to share details of further changes with people who use our products in the months ahead.”
Maven has been integrated to manage, distribute and monetize premium online-video content for more than 30 major media companies, including CBS Corp.’s CBS Sports, Gannett Co. and Pearson PLC’s Financial Times.
Moreover, Yahoo’s video ad products include in-player video advertising (pre- and post-roll), In-banner video advertising, and original video content sponsorships. They also offer opportunities for publishers.
Yahoo is in the midst of performing house-cleaning process, and to a certain extent, as it continues to evaluate its famously disparate assets and determine where it should be spending time and money.
As Wauters points out, this is the third video property that Yahoo has killed in less than 8 months, other video-related services that Yahoo has parted with include Y!Live, a live video streaming service, and Jumpcut, an online video editing tool.