paidContent.org - The Economics of Content

Current Story

Yahoo Shakeup: The Meaning Of Is

By Staci D. Kramer - Mon 18 Jun 2007 03:49 PM PST

Today’s announcement of Terry Semel’s move to non-executive chair of Yahoo answered one major question—no more ‘when will Semel be out?’ stories—but, no matter how loud the protests, one key question isn’t going away and another has joined it. Is Yahoo for sale or up for grabs in some form? Is Jerry Yang a placeholder CEO for Sue Decker or some external candidate?

The answer to both is no, Yang insisted during the analysts’ call and interviews. The answer is yes, say others—usually unidentified.

The NYT quotes “several current and former Yahoo employees” who said they did not expect Yang to make radical changes to Semel’s strategies. “These employees said, moreover, they expected that Mr. Yang would most likely spend only a limited amount of time as chief executive. If Ms. Decker is able to prove her management skill, she will likely take the top job, they said.”

The WSJ heard much the same and asked Yang, who said he was not serving an interim role. One person familiar with the board deliberations told the Journal Yang’s position “wasn’t designed to be only an interim role, and that ‘he’s going to be in that job longer than people think.’” Then again, the Journal offers conflicting reports of how this all came about:

Version 1: Semel notified the board during an emergency phone meeting Sunday but the timing surprises some board members. Semel’s succession has been discussed at every board meeting for a year.

Version 2: Directors conferred informally before deciding Friday that Semel should leave as CEO because “Yahoo wasn’t catching up with Google.” Semel insists he wasn’t pushed out.

Variation on a theme: The vote withholding and the dissension at the annual shareholder meeting last week made an impact.

Variation on a theme II: Yang was the one who asked Semel to leave now, or, as Kara Swisher puts it, “the one who - politely - pulled the trigger yesterday on the CEO he had been key to hiring with much fanfare and initially terrific results many years ago.”

However it happened, here’s the gist: Jerry Yang is CEO and, as a Yahoo spokesperson said Monday night when I asked if co-founder David Filo was reporting to Yang—“As the new CEO, the entire organization rolls up into Jerry.” It may be difficult, as analysts and other observers have said, to figure out Yang’s actual role during the Semel years but everything that happens from here out—even if it comes directly from Decker—rolls up into Jerry. It’s Pottery Barn time.

Posted in:


Related Research from Alacrastore.com

2 Responses:
  • From Dave Tue 19 Jun 2007 09:44 AM

    As much as the markets and everyone else forced the issue I think Yang had to make the move for his own personal pride. just think back to a few years ago, Yang/Yahoo was viewed as leaders, golden children of the digital age. Now they both are seen as second tier players in numerous digital fields. Yahoo can’t lead the way in anything right now and I’m sure its bugging Yang.

  • From Jeremy Johnstone Tue 13 Nov 2007 05:39 PM

    Per the license agreement on the photos which you are using, proper attribution is required for you to be able to legally use them. Please have them reflect “Jeremy Johnstone @ Yahoo!” or equivalent.

Post Your Comment

Mobile Options

» Mobile App
» Mobile/WAP Site

Send a News Tip

About

paidContent.org, flagship of the ContentNext Media network, provides global coverage of the business of digital content.

Rafat Ali
Publisher & Co-Editor

Staci D. Kramer
Co-Editor

David Kaplan
Senior Correspondent

Joseph Weisenthal
Correspondent

Robert Andrews
U.K. Editor

Amanda Natividad
Editorial Producer

EconCeleb Conference - The Economics of Celebrity. July 23 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood

Featured Report - 2008 Social Media Deals Report

front page of report

The economics of social media continue to heat up, with ever more buzz created in new and growing market categories. This report examines the categories, number and size of investment and acquisitions into social media and the resulting value created from 2007 through 2008. Order your report today to analyze deals made by Yahoo, Disney, Google, AOL, CBS, Hearst, Microsoft and many more.

Learn more or purchase now.

New Media/Interactive Job Listings

Post Job
More Jobs

Generous Supporters