Yahoo! Loses Co-Founder, Gets New CEO
Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo!, announced earlier this week that he left the company. Yang resigned from all the positions he held within the company he helped found some two decades ago, mainly his position on Yahoo's board and on the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group Holding. In a letter sent to Board Chairman Roy Bostock, Yang said that he left Yahoo! to pursue other interests and that he is confident that under the leadership of Yahoo!’s new CEO, the company has a bright future.
“My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future,” said Yang in the abovementioned letter to Bostock.
Yahoo! kicked off the new year with the announcement that, after spending 4 months looking for one, it has a new CEO: 54-year-old New Englander Scot Thompson. As you may remember, back in September 2011 Yahoo! announced that its board of directors decided to let CEO Carol Bartz go and put CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tim Morse in charge until a replacement for Bartz would be found. Bartz was quite upset at the time, not because she got fired, but because she got fired over the phone.
Getting back to Yahoo!’s new CEO, before joining the company co-founded by Jerry Yang, Thompson served as the President of eBay’s PayPal unit, CIO (Chief Information Officer) for Barclays Global Investors and Visa Inc.’s Inovant. A long time fan of Yahoo!, Thompson plans to apply his dedication to innovation, speed, and discipline to ensure Yahoo! has a bright future. “I want to return this business to being one of the great iconic brands. I have a core belief that what happens in the next five years -- and the next ten -- is almost impossible to imagine,” said Thompson.
“My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future,” said Yang in the abovementioned letter to Bostock.
Yahoo! kicked off the new year with the announcement that, after spending 4 months looking for one, it has a new CEO: 54-year-old New Englander Scot Thompson. As you may remember, back in September 2011 Yahoo! announced that its board of directors decided to let CEO Carol Bartz go and put CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Tim Morse in charge until a replacement for Bartz would be found. Bartz was quite upset at the time, not because she got fired, but because she got fired over the phone.
Getting back to Yahoo!’s new CEO, before joining the company co-founded by Jerry Yang, Thompson served as the President of eBay’s PayPal unit, CIO (Chief Information Officer) for Barclays Global Investors and Visa Inc.’s Inovant. A long time fan of Yahoo!, Thompson plans to apply his dedication to innovation, speed, and discipline to ensure Yahoo! has a bright future. “I want to return this business to being one of the great iconic brands. I have a core belief that what happens in the next five years -- and the next ten -- is almost impossible to imagine,” said Thompson.
