Search Is on for New Yahoo CEO After Yang Steps Down (
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Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will leave the role as chief executive of the number 2 search engine on the Internet. After deals with Google, Microsoft and AOl have gone virtually nowhere, Yang will step down to focus on Yahoo's technology and strategy.SAN FRANCISCO/NEW
YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said Jerry Yang will step down as chief
executive as soon as the board finds a replacement, sending its shares
up 4 percent on hopes his departure will clear the way for a deal with
Microsoft.
Yang -- who will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo, focusing
on strategy and technology -- tried to carve an independent strategy
for Yahoo and was blamed when Microsoft Corp walked away from an offer
to buy the company earlier this year.
Rival Google Inc abandoned a search advertising partnership amid
regulatory concerns, and Yang faced a growing chorus of criticism from
investors and analysts as Yahoo's shares nosedived.
Yahoo's months-long talks with Time Warner Inc about combining with
its AOL unit -- as yet another way to boost Yahoo's earnings -- have
also failed to produce a deal.
"The company is in desperate need of change and this is clearly one
way to do it," said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets,
adding that Microsoft could enter the picture again. "Jerry was the
roadblock for the last deal getting done."
Yang has consistently said that he would sell the company for the right price.
Microsoft declined to comment.
Yahoo shares rose to $11.10 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $10.63.
The shares are down nearly 65 percent from their 52-week high of
$30.25, reached in February, two weeks after Microsoft made its
$31-a-share offer public.
Microsoft withdrew its $47.5 billion buyout offer in May after Yahoo rejected the sweetened bid.
Yang, a co-founder of Yahoo, took on the CEO role in June 2007, hoping to strengthen its position as an online consumer brand.
"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," Yang said in a statement.
Last month, Yahoo announced it planned to cut at least a tenth of
its workforce, or about 1,500 jobs, as corporate brand advertisers
scaled back spending on Web marketing promotions amid a global economic
downturn.
In an e-mail sent to employees, a copy of which was seen by Reuters,
Yang said his decision to step down was taken jointly with Yahoo's
board.
"All of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple," Yang wrote, referring to Yahoo's corporate color.
Yang has been talking with the board, which includes activist
investor Carl Icahn, about stepping down since before Google pulled out
of the search deal in early November, said a person familiar with the
talks.
Icahn did not return a call seeking comment.