Yahoo! board member Jerry Yang has apparently been forced out of the company he founded. In a statement released today, Yahoo announced he had resigned from its board of directors and all other positions at the company.
In resigning, Yang wrote:
My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future.
Quite frankly, it’s about time. Despite early success, Yang proved unable to navigate the modern web. He famously spurned a $46 billion buyout offer from Microsoft, when the company was already floundering. The once-mighty Yahoo! had become the butt of jokes, and was bleeding talent as well as money. It made of mess of just about everything it touched.
Here’s hoping new leadership can right the ship. [MarketWatch]
Image: Michael Macor/The Chronicle
Wok
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:37 AMMS will buy it soon for F all.
Barry
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 11:13 AMM$ will no doubt think twice about buying Yahoo as Bing is getting better and better, far better than yahoo on every front and better than Google on some fronts. M$ might even think that it’s best to just buy the search side of Yahoo and let the rest die, in my opinion that would be a better and cheaper option. Not only do you get Yahoo search clients and search advertising but you get rid of the number 2 or 3 position search company. I forget if Yahoo is second or third at the moment.
Barry
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 11:17 AMCompletely agree with Mat Honan. Jery should have been kicked out long time ago and I’m surprised no one tried to kick him out when Microsoft knock on their door to buy them.
Nathan
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 12:01 PMYawho?
M0les
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 1:28 PMAFAICT the whole board needed replacement some time ago.
You never know, he might have a chance of doing a “Steve” and coming back as Lazarus.