Terry Semel’s resignation was a rather anti-climactic conclusion to a tumultuous tenure, but the Yahoo shakedown is likely to continue. It’s hard to imagine the new Jerry Yang-Sue Decker team finding a second wind in the pretty-much-lost-already race with Google and many are predicting a sale or merger with Microsoft or MySpace in the near future. Paul Kedrosky of the University of California San Diego said, “My bet: Yahoo won’t be an independent company in 12 months.”
Rather than substantial overhaul, Semel’s resignation is an effort to temporarily assuage shareholder discontent. It comes just a week after Eric Jackson’s grassroots campaign to oust Semel along with the Yahoo compensation committee received disproportionate media attention in anticipation of the annual shareholders meeting.
It’s likely that Jerry Yang’s appointment as CEO will be interim-only . The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed Yahoo insider saying that the board still intends to conduct a search for a new CEO, with Sue Decker on the inside track.
Amid Missteps, Yahoo's Semel Resigns as CEO [Wall Street Journal]
Yahoo’s Chief Resigns, and a Founder Takes Over [New York Times]
Posted by SDH , Jun 19, 2007 2:18PM
Decker is being tested right now to see if she can run the show. However there are some other possible contenders outside of Yahoo! who could lead the squad like former Fox Interactive Media head Ross levinsohn (Long shot) or even former AOL head John Miller. Decker does have the inside track though and will probably be the next CEO. I don't see how Yang is the right choice on a long term basis. Yahoo needs to get back in shape and they can start by bringing facebook into the fold. However they shouldn't let that flip flop wearing facebook kid over charge them.