November 18, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – A Yahoo! press release has confirmed the company is conducting a search for a new CEO. Current CEO and co-founder of the company Jerry Yang will step down and resume his role as Chief Yahoo! and board member once the CEO role is successfully filled. According to the press release, Yang, aged 40, has “led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform”.
Analysts though have suggested the key reason for Mr. Yang’s departure from the CEO position is criticism of his leadership. While Yang was CEO (at the Yahoo! board’s invitation), the company’s stocks went down to around $10 after the company rejected a takeover bid by Microsoft which would have seen shareholders receive $33 a share. News of Mr. Yang’s departure as CEO pushed shares up 4.4% to $11.10 in after-hours trading, although they declined again during regular trading.
The company has suggested that Chairman Roy Bostock will lead the search for a new CEO “in consultation” with Mr. Yang and the assistance of Heidrick & Struggles. In an email to Yahoo! employees Mr. Yang was reported as saying, "I will always do what is right for this great company".
"Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues," explained Mr. Bostock. "Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board."
"From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensable to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise," said Jerry Yang in the company’s press release. "When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation."
The move does, however, come relatively soon after a lackluster performance at the recent Web 2.0 Summit, where co-host John Battelle interviewed Mr. Yang on his vision for Yahoo! Although structurally sound, he was perceived as lacking the charisma required to carry an organization like Yahoo! Given the failure of past initiatives - allowing Google adverts in Yahoo! searches being one example - questions have arisen as to his ability to navigate the inevitable pitfalls of the roadmap the company has established.
Possible successors to Mr. Yang include News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, AOL boss Jon Miller, eBay CEO Meg Whitman, Google ad exec Tim Armstrong, Fox Interactive executive Ross Levinsohn and former Yahoo!’s COO Dan Rosensweig.
