Terry Semel ended his six - year run asYahoo’schief executive officer on Monday , and the fellowship ’s co - founder Jerry Yang will take over from him , the company articulate .
Semel has been the focus of intense criticism in the retiring two years due to Yahoo ’s inability to capitalize as much as expected on the fast - growing market place for search locomotive engine advertising . By line , Googlehas enjoyed center - pop tax revenue growth and enviable profit almost exclusively from the search advertising marketplace .
By moving Yang into Semel ’s view , Yahoo gets a chief operating officer of the calibre of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who can equalise Google ’s triumvirate of engineers , said Allen Weiner , a Gartner analyst , referring to Google ’s CEO Eric Schmidt and atomic number 27 - founders and presidents Larry Page and Sergey Brin .
“ I always felt that the best CEO for Yahoo already work there : Jerry Yang , ” Weiner say . “ He is far and away the best option they could have made . ”
Last calendar week , at Yahoo ’s annual shareholder meeting , Semel field bite criticism from shareholders in attending , moderate to tense exchange at times .
Semel resign from his position as CEO and Chairman and will become non - executive Chairman and serve as adviser to the management squad .
Semel became chair and CEO in May 2001 .
antecedently , Semel spent 24 year at Warner Bros. , where he was chairman and co - master executive officer . Prior to his Warner Bros. stint , he led Walt Disney ’s Theatrical Distribution division and CBS ’ Theatrical Distribution section .
Semel was brought in primarily to create a bridge between the Hollywood entertainment industry and Yahoo , which never happened as originally envisioned , Weiner said . “ That strategy did n’t work , ’ he said .
Because Yang is an engineer who amply understands the net market and Yahoo ’s business , Weiner predicts the company troops will rally behind him . “ This is a seminal event in the account of Yahoo , ” Weiner tell .
The board of director appointed Yang , who co - founded the company 12 years ago , as CEO , and Susan Decker , former executive vice president and head of Advertiser and Publisher Group , as the company ’s president .
This change is something that the market obviously wanted , according to industry psychoanalyst Greg Sterling from Sterling Market Intelligence . When he joined Yahoo , Semel helped play the company back from the brink , but late he seemed to have lost the wizardly touch he had in the first place .
“ If Yahoo had another lackluster one-quarter , the refrain of calls for Semel ’s surrender would have gotten louder . This might be seen as a pre-emptive move by Semel , ” Sterling state via Es - ring mail . The question that remains is whether this executive alteration will have the desire effect , he said .
In a webcast , Semel order he had told the control board that he wanted to step back from his executive role “ sooner rather than by and by ” and that he and the display panel agreed this would be a good time for him to step down as CEO .
“ I ’ve long been peach to the control board about the importance of see to it a smooth succession to Yahoo ’s senior leaders , ” Semel said .
Semel expressed full self-confidence that Yang and Decker are the right-hand people to carry Yahoo “ through its multiyear transformation ” while acknowledging that the retiring year has been a difficult one for Yahoo and that no one in Yahoo ’s management has been slaked with the company ’s performance .
Decker and Yang both said during the webcast that they are confident Yahoo will meet its current gross forecasts , issued in April , and attain long - terminal figure success .
The troupe ’s new lookup advertizing platform , Panama , is yielding financial results above expectations , and as such offsetting a slowdown in display advertising , they said .
“ I consider Yahoo has all the assets it withdraw to win and we ’re well positioned to do that , ” Yang said .
A major morphologic reorganisation of the company launched in December under Semel ’s scout has had the await resultant so far , Decker said . It ’s now light to make major business decisions , she said , quote as examples the recent closure of Yahoo ’s underperforming U.S. online auction concern and the streamlining of the exposure business under the Flickr Robert William Service and the outgoing closure of Yahoo Photos .
Another reorganization result is the creation of a business organization social unit for the squad in charge of Yahoo ’s home page , which she said has give that squad more independence and yielded a unspoilt product .
Likewise , the video recording elbow grease are being unified and pass on common objectives , leading to a better user experience and more efficient advertising efforts , she said .
Decker , who was the company ’s chief fiscal police officer for seven years , said she and Yang are confident that Yahoo will be capable to address the deceleration in the display ad business with its acquisition of Right Media announce in April .
