????上周一，斯科特?湯普森正式成為雅虎公司（Yahoo）新一任CEO。接下來，可有他忙的了。

????雅虎曾經是互聯網行業的先驅，但在經過一系列起伏之后，包括公司CEO的頻繁更換（有些人的離職甚至鬧得沸沸揚揚），而且公司凈收入已經連續12個月呈下降趨勢，今天的雅虎已經不復往日的輝煌。但即便如此，這家公司依然有13,700名員工，網站每月的全球訪客數量也高達7億人次。

????雅虎新任CEO湯普森以注重技術和細節而著稱。他在貝寶（PayPal）擔任總裁期間，這些特質幫他取得了令人矚目的成就。在他的領導下，在線支付服務成為整個eBay增長最快的部門，目前占eBay總收入的37%。然而，帶領像雅虎這種大型公司實現逆轉，是湯普森之前從未經歷過的挑戰。高德納公司（Gartner）分析師艾倫?維納認為：“不論是雅虎內部，還是廣告商，或者華爾街，所有人都會密切關注他的一舉一動。別指望人們會說：‘給他幾個月的時間，讓他好做準備。’”

????而湯普森對此似乎也心知肚明。據報道，在上任后召開的第一次公司全體員工大會上，他表示，公司需要投入大量專項資源，用于短期內雖無法盈利，但未來有望為公司帶來收益的新服務。在接受《華爾街日報》（The Wall Street Journal）采訪時，他說，他的目標是在“相對較短的一段時間內”打造一家“增長迅猛的大型公司”，提供各種像PayPal一樣吸引人的服務。

????而要想給公司和自己贏得一線生機，湯普森勢必要采取下列5項措施。

擺脫弱者形象

????弗雷斯特研究公司（Forrester）分析師夏爾?范博斯科克認為，雅虎的形象存在問題，并將其比作無緣問鼎的大學保齡球隊：人們之所以喜歡這些球隊，是因為他們總是處在弱者的位置，而并非因為他們有精彩的表現。她認為：“湯普森需要讓雅虎擺脫楚楚可憐的弱者形象。”雅虎總是自稱為一家“傳統互聯網公司”，這種說法無可厚非，但卻不夠特立獨行。這種措辭套在其他的硅谷公司身上一樣說得通。雖然這種說法本身是溫和并且抽象的，但卻會在根本上左右公眾對公司的認知，人們會認為這家公司對過去戀戀不忘，而不是放眼未來。而這反過來，至少會降低公司對人才吸引力。如果你是一位炙手可熱的工程師，剛剛二十出頭，意氣風發，面對下面兩種公司，你會做何選擇：是Facebook這種新銳品牌，還是像雅虎這樣的傳統公司？

出售亞洲資產

????雅虎董事會正在評估出售亞洲資產的方案，即出售公司持有的中國阿里巴巴集團（Alibaba Group）40%的股份和雅虎日本（Yahoo Japan）35%的股份，雅虎董事會一直舉棋不定。過去幾年，雅虎與這兩家公司一直爭吵不休，因此，即便賣掉亞洲資產，雅虎也不會覺得不舍。（去年，阿里巴巴把在線支付服務支付寶轉移到公司CEO馬云旗下的一家新公司，引發了口水戰。）據稱，賣掉亞洲資產可以使公司獲得170億美元，使湯普森和雅虎可以掌握更多資金，同時輕裝上陣。并且，此舉還可以解決投資者爭議最大的一個問題。

????When Scott Thompson starts as CEO of Yahoo on Monday, he'll have his work cut out for him.

????Once an Internet pioneer, Yahoo's (YHOO) luster has worn off after an epic string of fits and starts, including a parade of unsuccessful CEO -- some of whom have not left quietly -- and a decline in net revenues over the last 12 consecutive quarters. Still, the company currently employs some 13,700 people and attracts some 700 million monthly visitors worldwide.

????In Thompson, Yahoo will have a CEO known for being technical and detail-oriented. Those qualities served him well as PayPal president. Under Thompson's guidance, the online payment service became the fastest-growing segment of eBay's (EBAY) overall business and now accounts for 37% of eBay's total revenues. But Thompson is a boss who's never had to deal with a turnaround of the size he now faces. "Every breath he takes will be under such scrutiny by everybody, within Yahoo and from advertisers and Wall Street," says Gartner analyst Allen Weiner. "People are not going to say: Let's give him a couple of months to get started."

????Thompson seems to get that. At his first company all-hands meeting, he reportedly told employees the company needs to dedicate a good chunk of resources to new services that might not be profitable in the short-term but benefit the company down the road. And in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said his goal was to grow a "really big, high-growth business" in a "relatively short period of time," one with compelling services like PayPal.

????Here are 5 moves he needs to make to give the company -- and himself -- a fighting chance.

Drop the underdog act.

????Forrester research analyst Shar VanBoskirk believes the company has an image problem, comparing them to the college bowling team that doesn't have a chance of winning: you like them because they're the perpetual underdog, not necessarily because they're doing great things."He [Thompson] needs to stop this impression that Yahoo should be apologized for in some way," she says. Yahoo keeps referring to itself as an "iconic Internet brand," which isn't inaccurate -- it's just not unique. The same thing could be said of other Silicon Valley companies. And though it's a soft intangible, it ultimately affects public perception, portraying the company as one that's constantly looking over its shoulder instead of looking to the future. That in turn at least partly affects the company's ability to draw top talent. If you're an up-and-coming twenty-something engineer hot shot, who do you then want to work for: a cutting-edge brand like Facebook or iconic company like Yahoo?

Sell the Asian assets.

????One option Yahoo's board is weighing is the sale of its 40% stake in China's Alibaba Group and 35% stake in Yahoo Japan. There likely would be no love lost over such a deal, given the companies' quarrelsome relationship over the years. (Last year, the two got into a public squabble after Alibaba transferred ownership of the online payment service Alipay over to a new company controlled by CEO Jack Ma.). Such a sale could net the company a reported $17 billion, giving Thompson and Yahoo more capital to play with and cut down on distractions. It would also take one of the most contentious issues for investors off the table.