Yang steps down as Yahoo CEO (NYT, VW)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Following several tumultuous months, Jerry Yang is stepping down from his post as chief executive of Yahoo. In a memo sent to the company’s staff on Monday evening, Yang said he would retain the post until the board names his successor. After that, he said he’d return to his previous job as “chief Yahoo” – a corporate strategy role – and remain on the board.

Yang’s move comes 18 months after he assumed the CEO post after the departure of Terry Semel. His tenure has been dogged by a precipitously declining stock price and the collapse of a $44 billion takeover offer from Microsoft.

In the memo, Yang wrote, “i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.”

A Yahoo spokesman described the decision as “mutual” and “in progress for a while,” says The New York Times.

“It’s definitely positive from a shareholder perspective,” Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, told the NYT. “Jerry has done less than a stellar job after taking the reins from Terry Semel last year, not just completely botching the Microsoft deal but with poor execution and multiple company restructurings that have done little to restore confidence of any of Yahoo’s shareholders, employees or customers.”

Whether this will rekindle Microsoft’s interest in Yahoo remains to be seen. Microsoft chief Steven Ballmer recently said he had no desire to restart negoatiations.

“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 C.E.O. who can take the company to the next level,” Roy J. Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, wrote in a statement.

Yang will participate in the process of choosing a new CEO. The company has hired executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help look for candidates.

Names currently being floated as replacements include Susan Decker, Yahoo’s president – although ValleyWag points out that she is seen inside and outside the company as a bad manager who lacks a vision for what Yahoo should be.

Other names considered possibilities are News Corp. COO Peter Chernin; former AOL CEO Jon Millar – but a problem there, VW says, is that AOL parent Time Warner used Millar’s non-compete agreement to prevent him from joining Yahoo's board and the agreement doesn’t expire until next spring.

Yet another option could be former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who is said to be reasonably familiar with the company, and with the challenges of running a large Internet group.

Silicon Alley Insider, meanwhile, has called for submissions from the public to name Yang’s successor with suggestions ranging from Jeff Bezos to Chernin to…Sarah Palin.