Semel, execs speak at Yahoo analyst day

Chief Executive Terry Semel gave the keynote Wednesday morning at Yahoo's analyst day, saying the company has come a long way since he took over five years ago. Today, online advertising is estimated at more than $30 billion a year and growing, Semel said at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown San Francisco. And, Yahoo has more users than any Web site in the world, he said, adding that the company is primed for even greater growth.

The big bets over the past five years for the company have been graphical advertising, search, broadband partnerships and deep product focus, he said. Going forward, Semel said Yahoo will concentrate on next-generation technologies like video, as well as monetization, platforms and pushing content beyond the browser onto wireless devices and elsewhere. "I feel more invigorated today than ever before," he added.

Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig previewed a Java version of Yahoo Go for mobile devices. "We build large audiences, get them involved and monetize them," he said.

Lloyd Braun, head of the Yahoo Media Group, said the company is planning to offer licensed, original and user-generated content. "Community and personalization are going to be the key differentiators for us," he said.

Later in the day, executives are expected to provide details of their new advertising platform for the third quarter. Last week, Google held its annual shareholder meeting and barred journalists from the event, but held a separate press day.