Jerry Yang has announced he will resign from Yahoo’s Board of Directors and all other positions within the company and its subsidiaries, effective immediately. The news is highly surprising, and speculation is rising that Yahoo could be bought out.
“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!” Yang said in a letter – released to the public.
“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.”
Yang co-founded the company in 1995, and served in the Board of Directors. He briefly took the role of CEO during June 2007 to early 2009 (where he was replaced with Carol Bartz) – which is marred by the stunning rejection by Yahoo of Microsoft’s takeover proposal that began the shareholder struggles. With Yahoo’s fortunes still dwindling, Yang ironically saved Microsoft from making a big mistake in investing into Yahoo.
Oh, and we wouldn’t have Bing.
But with him out of the way, does this mean that a potential buyer has been found? The company has struggled with the advent of MySpace, Facebook, and the growing rise of Google. Yahoo’s strongest asset is its content production – which, incidentally, is also where AOL (another former tech luminary) is heading as well. So, that also poses the question – will Yahoo break up?