A deal between Microsoft and Yahoo is possible, if Ballmer and company is still interested

A possible deal between Microsoft and Yahoo could take place now that Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang announced he will step down once a replacement can be found.

Yang will continue to work at Yahoo, a company he helped co-found, but the company will be in control of someone else. He wished to remain CEO, but Yahoo's board of directors received too much pressure from stock holders over Yang's dismal past year of service.

There is a small list of possible candidates who will take over CEO, but UBS analyst Ben Schachter believes Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will eventually end up running the company at some point.

Read more: dailytech.com 

Labels: Jerry Yang, microsoft, Yahoo

Jerry Yang, after a tumultuous reign as the chief executive officer of Yahoo, the company he co-founded with David Filo, announced today that he is stepping down from the top slot. The news was first reported by Kara Swisher and later confirmed by Yahoo in a press release. He is going to make way for someone else, but will stay on the board of Yahoo and will be known as Chief Yahoo. More important, however, is the question of what Yahoo needs to do in order for Jerry to hang on to the title of Chief Yahoo!

Yang’s decision to move on isn’t a surprise – it was clear from his talk at a recent industry conference that he was tired and perhaps a little out of his depth. His choice to head the company that was looking down a deep abyss a while back was an ineffectual one, and a total and absolute failure on the part of Yahoo’s board of directors. In June 2008, I wrote about the systematic rot inside the company.

Read more: gigaom.com 

Labels: chief, Jerry Yang, Yahoo

'It may seem counterintuitive, but ...'

Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang has defended his company's decision to eschew Microsoft once and for all by partnering with Google.

Shortly after the deal closed on Thursday, Yang posted an article to Yahoo's Yodel Anecdotal corporate blog stating his case on why joining forces with a former rival is the right move for the company.

"We have done something important today. We are directly addressing one key element in Yahoo's strategy to lead the way in search and display," wrote Yang.

"I believe it puts us on a faster track to creating stockholder value and strengthening our advertising leadership."

Under the deal, Yahoo will allow Google to sell and display AdWords advertisements alongside Yahoo search results.

Read more: vnunet.com 

Labels: Jerry Yang, microsoft

SO JERRY YANG is no longer just the chief Yahoo, whatever that means. Terry Semel has vacated Yahoo's CEO office and Jerry Yang has set up shop there. At the same time, Sue Decker has stepped into the president's role. While Terry Semel's departure didn't come as a great surprise to anyone in the search space, Jerry Yang's appointment as CEO did raise a few eyebrows. In retrospect, the move seems to make a lot of sense but in the numerous conversations I've had on this topic in the last few weeks, no one mentioned Yang's name as Yahoo's possible savior. With this move will come the inevitable speculation about how this will bolster Yahoo's chances of competing against Google. Just last week I was interviewed by Bloomberg TV and was asked about that very topic. At that time I mentioned that the biggest difference between the two was the lack of corporate focus at Yahoo and the fact that focus, at least on the search side, has never been an issue for Google.

Full article: mediapost.com 

Labels: Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Yahoo

SAN FRANCISCO: Jerry Yang, who started Yahoo as a Stanford University student 12 years ago and has returned as chief executive after a six-year absence, said Tuesday that he was gearing up for a long fight with Google.

"I'm ready to dig in and make sure we can take Yahoo to the next level," said Yang, 38. "I'm absolutely not interim. We want someone for the long haul."

Yang replaced Terry Semel, the former Warner Bros. executive, who presided as Yahoo lost its lead in Internet advertising to Google and as shares fell 35 percent last year.

Full story: International Herald Tribune 

Labels: chief, executive, Jerry Yang, Yahoo