BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 ISSUE
COVER STORY -- E.BIZ -- THE E.BIZ 25 Timothy A. Koogle TIMOTHY A. KOOGLE YAHOO! INC. Position: Chairman and CEO Contribution: Transformed a directory of cool Web sites into an Internet portal, including everything from weather reports to shopping to games. Ambition: To create one of the world's largest media companies. Timothy A. Koogle never quite took to the trappings bestowed on senior executives in Corporate America. Even after nine years in various top jobs at Motorola Inc. (MOT), which entitled Koogle to a swank marble-floored office in a sky-high tower, he felt out of place. ''I never could stand it,'' says the 48-year-old Virginia native. No surprise, then, that Koogle traded in his buttoned-down surroundings for the stripped-down world of Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) in Silicon Valley. But what was stunning was how thoroughly Koogle transformed not just Yahoo but the world of consumer Web sites. Koogle's Yahoo pioneered the concept of the Web ''portal,'' the notion that businesses could create powerful gateways to the Net for millions of people--much like the influence of the early TV networks. Today, Yahoo's vast network, which includes everything from e-mail to news to auctions, attracts some 80 million people worldwide every month. Its market value is $42 billion, more than CBS Inc. (CBS) Now everybody's trying to out-Yahoo Yahoo. They'll have to hurry. Koogle is upping the ante by pushing hard on e-commerce. He's figuring out ways to drive transactions by hosting stores on Yahoo's site, and targeting likely buyers via e-mail. And he's adding snazzy video. This is all part of Koogle's ultimate dream: ''A goal is to be the largest media company in the world,'' says Koogle. But even then his office is unlikely to ever have marble floors. By Linda Himelstein _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS The e.biz 25: Masters of the Web Universe COVER IMAGE: The e.biz 25 Commentary: The Great Equalizer? Not by a Long Shot TABLE: Who's Lagging in the Net Age [empire builders] Jeffrey P. Bezos AMAZON.COM INC. Stephen M. Case AMERICA ONLINE INC. Timothy A. Koogle YAHOO! INC. [the innovators] Louis H. Borders WEBVAN GROUP INC. Jay S. Walker PRICELINE.COM Margaret C. Whitman EBAY INC. Glen Meakem FREE MARKETS ONLINE INC. James H. Clark MYCFO INC. Christos M. Cotsakos E*TRADE GROUP INC. [bankrollers] Masayoshi Son SOFTBANK CORP., JAPAN Robert C. Kagle BENCHMARK CAPITAL Lawton W. Fitt GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. L. John Doerr KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD & BYERS   Bernard Arnault LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON   [the visionaries] Mary G. Meeker MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER John Hagel III MCKINSEY & CO. William Joy SUN MICROSYSTEMS [the architects] Louis V. Gerstner Jr. IBM CORP. Pehong Chen BROADVISION INC. David C. Peterschmidt INKTOMI INC. Kevin J. O'Connor DOUBLECLICK Ellen M. Hancock EXODUS COMMUNICATIONS [the pace setters] David S. Pottruck CHARLES SCHWAB CORP. John T. Chambers CISCO SYSTEMS Michael S. Dell DELL COMPUTER INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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