So it finally happened: angry shareholders seem to have got their way, and Terry Semel, CEO of the flailing web giant, Yahoo has resigned from his post and will now become a non executive chairman. Jerry Yang, cofounder will become the CEO and Sue Decker will be the President.
Yang and Decker to Focus on Realizing Yahoo!’s Strategic Vision by Accelerating Execution, Further Strengthening Leadership and Fostering a Culture of Winning
A culture of winning… so is that a tactical admission that defeatist attitude had taken over the company, which has become the farm system for rest of the Valley. Is this big shake up enough to save Yahoo, which has seen some of its best talent leave the company to try their luck at some other start-ups.
More thoughts to follow… meanwhile have your say.
Semel discount was $4 billion.
12 comments so far
2:08 PM PT
2late…they lost.
2:15 PM PT
Turnaround possible. Remember my strategy piece?
2:28 PM PT
“Flailing giant” - quite like that. So not failing then? :)
“A culture of winning” is also fantastic. Who comes up with these excellent yet completely empty and meaningless corporate expressions?
2:33 PM PT
I really think Yahoo needs passion right now, as Semel has been pretty devoid of any passion for sometime.
And if anyone can inject some passion into a company, a co-founder can. Yahoo! has never fully reinvented itself for a post-Google era. I hope Jerry can lead this once again.
Yahoo! also continues to keep Google honest, and if nothing else it’s because of this that I’m looking forward to Yahoo! finding its feet once again.
3:47 PM PT
Juha
I agree with you - and to think that someone actually gets paid for this? it is really strange. anyway the way i see it, jerry has got to be a stop gap CEO, perhaps slowly grooming Sue Decker to take over.
3:57 PM PT
“Finally” is right! Mrs. Decke’s grooming is near complete. Think of Mr. Yang as finishing school.
4:08 PM PT
Don’t be naive. Yahoo hasn’t lost. My retarded cousin’s two legged dog could have ran the company better than Semel. Google is getting too big for its own good, and people aren’t going to put up with their privacy problems anymore. I’m long Yahoo, not because I think Yang is amazing, but because Semel isn’t running the company.
4:17 PM PT
Good Riddance!!! Now Yahoo can move forward with the aggressiveness it needs to catch up. No more meetings with 50 MBA’s in a room that got nowhere and decisions by consensus.
Today they have the perfect organization to get the results they are getting. Change it and move on!
4:36 PM PT
What does a post-google era actually mean? I think google has it all wrong and very soon it would become evident, google is going to be like microsoft, spread yourself too thin, lose your focus and have someone else eat your lunch.
Yahoo transformed from an internet directory into an internet destination, which saved it during the first dotcom collapse. Google primary focus on search would keep it going until intelligent search (semantic web) shove it off. Yahoo should not try to be like google instead it should unlock the large value inherently in it as the internets choice destination.
Yahoo voip systems, are one of the better I have used, even better than skype and still free, yahoo games are one of a kind on the internet, yahoo finance is moderately informative. What yahoo should be trying to do is how to monetise these properties outside of pushing adverts, which can only bring in so much income.
4:40 PM PT
I agree. Yahoo has tremendous upside potential, and Susan Decker looks very capable of taking it to the next level. She might become the “Hottest CEO in Silicon Valley” for multiple reasons :-p
5:10 PM PT
Doesn’t a good Strategic Vision imply winning. Otherwise your strategy is wrong or you play to lose. Or didn’t the old CEO got axed because there was no strategy and now they are “Realizing Yahoo!’s Strategic Vision” which is …?
And since they have to “Fostering a Culture of Winning” they seem to play a strategy to lose.
Ok, to much fun with the usual hot air :-)
11:10 PM PT
Exact reason why you NEVER bring Hollywood up to Silicon Valley, or anyone from southern california up to Northern California.
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