Jerry Yang

Business
January 17, 2012
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Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang resigns

By on January 17, 2012 at 5:20 PM.

Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang resigns

Co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from all of his positions with Yahoo, the company announced in a press release on Tuesday. Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the Board of Directors since March 1995. Yang was also the company’s CEO from June 2007 to January 2009, until he was replaced by Carol Bartz. ”My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life,” said Yang in a statement. “However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.” Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock praised Yang, calling him both a visionary and pioneer. “We appreciate Jerry’s comments and share his enthusiasm for the company’s prospects. With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo!’s future is bright,” said Bostock. Yahoo’s press release follows below. More →

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News
January 13, 2009
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Yahoo President resigns following arrival of new CEO

By on January 13, 2009 at 6:26 PM.

Yahoo President resigns following arrival of new CEO

Well, it looks like board meetings over at Intel are going to be pretty awkward for a while. Following the Wall Street Journal’s scoop earlier today, Yahoo has officially announced that Carol Bartz has joined the company as CEO. In the same breath, Yahoo also revealed that current President Sue Decker has informed the company she will be resigning from her role after a transitional period. Decker, a candidate who had been considered for the open CEO spot as well, has been with Yahoo in a variety of capacities for the past 8-1/2 years. Decker will remain on as Bartz settles into her position, after which she will apparently head off to greener pastures – which shouldn’t be overly difficult at this point. As for Bartz, Yahoo’s press release included her first official statement as CEO:

Yahoo! is a powerful global brand with a great collection of assets, strong technology, and enormously talented employees. The Company has accomplished a great deal in its relatively short history and I look forward to working together to take it to the next level. There is no denying that Yahoo! has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees. We will seize that opportunity.

Former CEO Jerry Yang will return to his previous role as Chief Yahoo.

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News
January 13, 2009
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Yahoo expected to name Carol Bartz as CEO

By on January 13, 2009 at 4:02 PM.

Yahoo expected to name Carol Bartz as CEO

Since Yahoo-founder Jerry Yang stepped down from his CEO role back in November, not much has improved with the struggling internet giant. The company underwent a huge round of layoffs in December and since then news has been scarce, which actually shoudl be viewed as a good thing in Yahoo’s case. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo is expected to announce that former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz will come on board and assume the role of CEO. Bartz is no stranger to Yahoo execs – she currently sits on Cisco’s board with Jerry Yang and she has a seat on Intel’s board as well alongside Yahoo President Susan Decker. As to the task of leading Yahoo, most speculate Bartz’s chief task will be to bring Microsoft back to the table in an effort sell the company or at least parts of its business. Despite public claims from Microsoft CEO Steve “I Like to Yell” Ballmer, many believe Microsoft is still very interested in Yahoo’s search business if not the company as a whole. Whether or not Bartz will be up to the task remains to be seen but hopefully Icahn takes to her a bit better than he did Yang. As fas as Wall Street goes, investors don’t seem overly excited about the move – Yahoo shares dropped to $11.78 following the Wall Street Journal’s report after opening at $12.16. It has since recovered and is currently hovering just north of $12.00.

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News
November 17, 2008
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Jerry Yang to step down as Yahoo CEO

By on November 17, 2008 at 9:12 PM.

Jerry Yang to step down as Yahoo CEO

What a long strange trip it’s been. Mark this one as done folks – Yahoo has officially announced that Jerry Yang will step down as CEO of Yahoo. Yang has been at the helm of what can only be described as a sinking ship since June of 2007. His moves have been made under a microscope, his decisions have been questioned by just about everyone with a keyboard and he has been the subject of much criticism, to say the least. What’s done is done though and suffice it to say we definitely do not envy whoever the appropriately-named executive head hunting firm Heidrick & Struggles finds as Yang’s replacement. He or she will inherit a mess of epic proportions as Yahoo struggles to stay afloat and no doubt begins begging Microsoft, even more than Yang did, to come back to the bargaining table. As for Yang, he will return to his prior role as Chief Yahoo and will still sit on the board of directors. If Yang is still with the company in six months we’ll be truly amazed. Hit the jump for Yang’s full memo sent today to all Yahoo employees.

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News
November 7, 2008
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Microsoft to Yahoo: “We moved on”

By on November 7, 2008 at 8:15 AM.

Microsoft to Yahoo: “We moved on”

After Jerry Yang did a 180 and nearly begged Microsoft to buy Yahoo, the rumor mills have been churning with commentary on the decline of Yahoo and speculation about what a potential Microsoft acquisition would involve. Steve Ballmer, while at a business luncheon in Sydney, put an end to all this rampant speculation by saying,

We tried at one point to do a partnership around search … and that didn’t work either, and we moved on and they moved on. We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition. I don’t know why they would be either, frankly.

That pretty much seals it. Despite its rock bottom price, Microsoft is still not interested in buying the failing Yahoo. A partnership might be a possibility but that is all Microsoft is willing to dish out. This is more bad news for Yahoo and it looks like it’ll have to find a way to dig out of its somewhat self-created decline alone for the time being. With Google backing out of the advertisement deal and now Microsoft snubbing its nose at Yahoo, this has not been a good week for Jerry Yang and company.

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November 6, 2008
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Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang does 180, basically slaps Microsoft in the face

By on November 6, 2008 at 12:59 PM.

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang does 180, basically slaps Microsoft in the face

It’s decided – Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is schizophrenic.

To this day, I have to say that the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo. I don’t think that is a bad idea at all – at the right price, whatever the price is, we are willing to sell the company. We were ready to negotiate, we wanted to negotiate a deal, and we felt that we weren’t that far apart. But at the end of the day, they withdrew and they since have been very clear about not wanting to buy the company.

Dude, Jerry, Buddy. What’s going on over there? Microsoft had expressed more than a fleeting interest earlier this year when it offered struggling internet giant Yahoo a cool $44.6 billion, a 65% premium over the stock price at that time, in a proposed acquisition. At that time, Yahoo did everything it could to squash the deal short of literally driving to Washington and setting fire to Bill Gates’ cat. Now that hindsight is 20/20 and that $44.6 billion is looking pretty damn good, Yang starts pulling these shenanigans in telling the world that he is, and was, all for an acquisition. If Carl Icahn can survive reading this news without having a stroke or hiring a hitman, it’ll be a small miracle.

[Via Mashable]

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