Yang and Yahoo board agree it's time for a new CEO
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- It was about time.
At 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, Yahoo Inc. quietly slipped a press release out over BusinessWire, announcing its intention to look for a new chief executive.
The Internet pioneer said it has begun a search for a new chief executive, and cofounder Jerry Yang would return to his most previous job, with the amorphous title of Chief Yahoo, once a replacement has been found. See full story.
While the news was a shock in the moment, it is not surprising that Yahoo's (YHOO:
Yahoo! Inc board of directors and Yang finally agreed it is time for a new leader. The company has suffered under a string of recent bad strategic moves and Yang's continued reign at the helm has been the subject of much investor vitriol.
Earlier this month, Google Inc. abandoned a joint advertising-search deal with Yahoo, which was having too many problems getting approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ironically, Yahoo had sought the deal to avoid the grasp of Microsoft Corp. Reported talks with Time-Warner Inc.'s time warner inc com AOL also appeared to go nowhere.
On that very same day that Google abandoned the deal, Yang had the unfortunate timing to speak at the Web 2.0 conference, where he appeared cowered and downtrodden. He said he was "very open minded" to doing a full or partial merger with Microsoft, the company he had shunned after the behemoth made a merger offer that was a 62% premium to Yahoo's shares at the time. Yahoo's shares have gradually tumbled since that proposed deal fell apart, and in the past week, they even dropped below $10. See full story.
Yang was briefly a hero to some within Yahoo, after fighting off the evil empire, but he was the bane of shareholders' existence. And after the Google deal was rejected by the government, his obvious plea to Microsoft to come back was rejected by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who said the company had no interest in new talks with Yahoo.
Yahoo's decision to look for a new CEO could be a move to encourage Microsoft to come back, as there is probably no love lost between Yang and Ballmer.
But who among tech visionaries is going to want to lead the company at this point? Yahoo has hired the executive recruiting firm of Heidrick & Struggles with the unenviable task of finding a CEO to lead the company that has seen a swath of top executives leave and is still losing ground to Google in search.
The company will need a rare executive with the combined skills of both an operations expert and an Internet visionary. Yahoo may end up with an executive who cleans up the company for an acquirer. Finding another leader who will want the daunting challenge of getting Yahoo competitive again in the current economic climate will be a tough task.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Jerry-Yang-board-agree-he/story.aspx?guid={D0837AD3-E6C3-4664-9515-08CF2402CAA2}
At 5 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday, Yahoo Inc. quietly slipped a press release out over BusinessWire, announcing its intention to look for a new chief executive.
The Internet pioneer said it has begun a search for a new chief executive, and cofounder Jerry Yang would return to his most previous job, with the amorphous title of Chief Yahoo, once a replacement has been found. See full story.
While the news was a shock in the moment, it is not surprising that Yahoo's (YHOO:
Yahoo! Inc board of directors and Yang finally agreed it is time for a new leader. The company has suffered under a string of recent bad strategic moves and Yang's continued reign at the helm has been the subject of much investor vitriol.
Earlier this month, Google Inc. abandoned a joint advertising-search deal with Yahoo, which was having too many problems getting approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. Ironically, Yahoo had sought the deal to avoid the grasp of Microsoft Corp. Reported talks with Time-Warner Inc.'s time warner inc com AOL also appeared to go nowhere.
On that very same day that Google abandoned the deal, Yang had the unfortunate timing to speak at the Web 2.0 conference, where he appeared cowered and downtrodden. He said he was "very open minded" to doing a full or partial merger with Microsoft, the company he had shunned after the behemoth made a merger offer that was a 62% premium to Yahoo's shares at the time. Yahoo's shares have gradually tumbled since that proposed deal fell apart, and in the past week, they even dropped below $10. See full story.
Yang was briefly a hero to some within Yahoo, after fighting off the evil empire, but he was the bane of shareholders' existence. And after the Google deal was rejected by the government, his obvious plea to Microsoft to come back was rejected by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who said the company had no interest in new talks with Yahoo.
Yahoo's decision to look for a new CEO could be a move to encourage Microsoft to come back, as there is probably no love lost between Yang and Ballmer.
But who among tech visionaries is going to want to lead the company at this point? Yahoo has hired the executive recruiting firm of Heidrick & Struggles with the unenviable task of finding a CEO to lead the company that has seen a swath of top executives leave and is still losing ground to Google in search.
The company will need a rare executive with the combined skills of both an operations expert and an Internet visionary. Yahoo may end up with an executive who cleans up the company for an acquirer. Finding another leader who will want the daunting challenge of getting Yahoo competitive again in the current economic climate will be a tough task.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Jerry-Yang-board-agree-he/story.aspx?guid={D0837AD3-E6C3-4664-9515-08CF2402CAA2}
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