The executive vice president of Yahoo’s network division may be heading out the door. Jeff Weiner apparently plans to return from a four-week paternity leave, but rumor has it he won’t stick around for long afterwards.
Weiner’s personal situation makes it easy to understand such a move – concerns about sleep and hygiene aside, most folks enjoy spending time with their newborns. Also, Yahoo’s not the world’s most stable company, and so unless the new dad wants to bet on its in-case-of-Icahn severance plan, leaving on his own terms seems like a reasonable precaution.
Jeff Weiner
As for where Weiner will put in some hours (retirement’s not in the cards), Kara Swisher reports, “Several sources in Silicon Valley’s voluble venture community confirm the high-ranking exec has been offered and seems likely to accept a spot splitting his time as an executive in residence at two firms-Accel Partners and Greylock Partners. Both firms are the home of several former Yahoos and also are deeply invested in the Web 2.0 consumer market, including each having a stake in Facebook.”
Accel has ties to comScore, Trulia, and Wal-Mart, as well, while, Greylock is connected to Digg, Farecast, and LinkedIn. Not bad.
Weiner’s departure – assuming it occurs at all – is likely to take place before Yahoo’s August 1st stockholder meeting. Place your bets now on whether the next round of nasty letters between Carl Icahn and Roy Bostock will mention the possibility.
