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Yahoo! Shakes Up Management as Yang Assumes CEO Post TMCnet Web Editor Facing stiff competition from Google (News - Alert) and rumors of takeover bids, Yahoo has overhauled its management, naming co-founder Jerry Yang chief executive and while current chairman and CEO Terry Semel is stepping aside to be an advisor and non-executive chairman.
According to online reports, the shakeup could be a desperate attempt by the Internet company to remain independent and fend off suitors, which one report said would peg the company’s value at more than $50 billion.
As part of the management overhaul, Yahoo!’s (News - Alert) executive vice president and head of advertising Sue Decker becomes president. Decker has been credited with bringing more focus to the company’s efforts to bolster its revenues from advertising.
The naming of Yang, who founded Yahoo in 1995 but later turned the running of the company’s day-to-day operations to outsiders, has reportedly fueled rumors over whether it is an interim or permanent move. There is speculation that Decker, who joined Yahoo in 2000, is being groomed to run the company.
Whoever runs Yahoo faces the challenge of fending off rivals such as Google, which has moved aggressively to provide head-on competition.
Google scored a major coup by acquiring online advertising company DoubleClick for $3.1 billion in April, clearing the way to establish relationships with top online advertisers and publishers.
The reassignment of Semel, who took charge of Yahoo in 2001, comes amidst criticism that the Internet company was not acting fast enough to stem the rise of Google as well as social networking sites such as MySpace.
Yahoo did shell out $680 million to completely buy out RightMedia, in an effort to increase its advertising on social networking sites. Yahoo was also rumored to be the target of a tie-in with Microsoft in early May.
One analyst was quoted as saying that Yahoo was likely to enter additional partnerships with telecom and/or software companies to bolster its display advertising business.
Spencer Chin is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
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