Jerry Yang to Step Down from a 'Stronger' Yahoo?

One really can't say that the move was an absolutely unexpected, but still amid much hype Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang officially announced his retirement from the position that he had assumed about 18 months ago.

The official press release begins as follows:

“Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform. Chairman Roy Bostock, working with the independent directors and in consultation with Jerry Yang, is leading the process of assessing potential candidates and determining finalists for consideration. The search will encompass both internal and external candidates, and the Board has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading international executive search firm, to assist in the process.”

Yahoo! lived up to its reputation by trying to provide an optimistic touch to the nightmarish situation. Yang's personal email to Yahoo! employees included the following statement:

“Despite the external environment we face, the fact remains that Yahoo! is now a significantly different company which is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago. This only makes it all the more essential that we manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point as effectively as possible. 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.”

Quite an optimistic statement to say the least from Yang. It would be interesting to see if the Yahoo! shareholders agree with it.

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