The morning after Yahoo’s Terry Semel resigned the CEO task has founder Jerry Yang doing two interim jobs and newly minted president Sue Decker a step closer to the top.
Yahoo: The Next Day
Whatever fruit the new advertising system at Yahoo will bear won’t be of any help to Semel’s approval among investors. His long-expected departure from the CEO position finally took place.
It means Yang will wear two hats, as CEO and CTO, though he says the CEO job is his. Yang took the CTO role after Farzad Nazem abruptly resigned. Nazem’s departure had been described as planned out in advance, yet Yahoo had no one in position to step into the job.
Decker’s continued move up the Yahoo leadership ladder persists in intriguing us. Yang isn’t going to do a couple of combined jobs forever. We’re inclined to believe Decker has a shot at Semel’s old office, and her close confidant Hilary Schneider will be nearby, perhaps taking Decker’s current president’s role.
Yahoo had begun consolidating some of its duplicate services in recent months. That strategy looks necessary, but may go on hold as Yahoo finds people to take the CEO and CTO roles over the coming months.
We’re not convinced Yang will keep the CEO job for long. It’s not a fun job right now, and Wall Street has much more interest in Decker.
“Yahoo! has an incredibly bright future and I make this move with deep conviction and enthusiasm,” Yang said on Yahoo’s official blog. He will need that enthusiasm on July 17, when Yahoo reports its quarterly numbers, if Panama still hasn’t made a big impact on the bottom line.
