Yang resigns as CEO, search is on for new Yahoo chief
"i will be participating in the search for my successor, and i will continue as ceo until the board selects a new ceo," reads a memo to Yahoo employees from the man who this morning is flying the white flag.
As first reported by Kara Swisher in The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang has agreed to resign his executive post, though will remain on-board with the company as "Chief Yahoo" -- whatever that will mean post-transition.
Yang's public statement this morning includes the following: "When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation."
Both Yang's public statement and his private memo to employees (written in Yang's trademark all-lower-case) attempt to paint a picture of himself as having been a transitional CEO from the beginning, and this morning's resignation being just a matter of timing.
"despite the external environment we face," Yang wrote, "the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that 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."
12:40 pm EST November 18, 2008 - Investors are apparently taking the news of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang's imminent departure very well, with its stock trading higher by more than 11% on the NASDAQ exchange by early afternoon Tuesday.