Chegg CEO: Silicon Valley is in an Interesting Transition Period
Silicon Valley has seen its share of uncertainty as the half way point in the year approaches. From Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone sales falling 16% in the second-quarter to major security breaches found in Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) email services, the technology sector is in an interesting transition.
During an interview with the FOX Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig discussed the future of Yahoo!, the state of the tech sector and Chegg's shift in strategy.
“You got the old guard that is sort of struggling. Some of these companies we talk about like Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) are as much as 5,6,7,8, ten years old,” Rosenweig told host Sandra Smith. “There are some breakout companies. Obviously companies like Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) are dominating the marketplace right now, they sort of have uncontested runway for the next couple of years.”
Rosenweig says PayPal’s (NASDAQ:PYPL) CEO Daniel Schulman is doing a great job with its product which has been of great interest to the college kids using Chegg. However, he says many companies are struggling with their business models and in the rapid change in technology.
According to Rosenweig, Twitter has faced many structural issues and is in a very interesting situation since the return of Jack Dorsey.
“The question really comes down to whether or not the 300 million [Twitter] users can become a billion users or whether or not is going to become 300 million users,” Rosenweig said. “And if its 300 million users then it’s becoming really just a niche celebrity news site.”
The former Yahoo! COO also weighed in on the continued story regarding who will acquire the company.
“Honestly, it’s difficult to know where it’s going to fall because there is not that many participants in the process, not that many people can pay for it and there’s real structural questions about what is worth five years from now,” Rosenweig said.
Rosenweig thinks Marissa Mayer is doing exactly what is required of her as a CEO and any potential sale of Yahoo! will remain in the hands of the board of directors.