When Yahoo's Jerry Yang stepped up to the plate as CEO back in June of 2007, expectations were high. Yang helped found Yahoo and it was hoped he'd use his engineering savvy to make the No. 2 search engine a stronger player against not only No. 3 Microsoft, but No. 1 search engine giant Google. How fast things change. Just a year and a half and three big strikes later, and Yang is stepping down from his post, leaving battered Yahoo looking for a replacement.
Yang just didn't have the eye for making a big hit for the company. He notoriously botched Microsoft's buyout bid back in February, refusing an offer of $33 per share and $45 billion, a move that looks increasingly worse now that Yahoo's stock is trading at barely over $10 per share.
Strike 2 was the thwarted ad-sharing deal with Google. At the time it was proposed, back in June, the deal looked like it might be profitable for both parties, especially Yahoo, who stood to add millions to its coffers. But as the DOJ's regulatory scrutiny dragged on, and Yahoo rejiggered the terms of the deal, it became less and less attractive to Google, which walked away just a couple of weeks ago.
And Strike 3? How about the pitiful position Yahoo now finds itself in. Not only is it the No. 1 company on Network World's list of tech companies that could use a bailout, but its stock closed at just $10.63 a share on Monday. And Yang, forced to go back to Microsoft hat-in-hand, got shut down completely. "We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated firmly just two weeks ago.
It's past time to send Yang back to the bench. He's better suited to his former role as "Chief Yahoo," not Chief Executive.
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