Why Jerry Yang Will Go

As heads roll at Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), the only one that might stanch the bleeding sits firmly on Jerry Yang's neck. It's no mystery why.

Yahoo! is making the classic mistake of showing too much deference to its creator, a superb entrepreneur who, as his performance plainly shows, is no CEO. Yahoo!'s board of directors erred in allowing Yang to return as CEO in 2007, compounding the mistake board members made in 2001 of letting him dictate the hiring of his friend Terry Semel as chief executive. Yahoo! stagnated during Semel's six years at the helm and was lapped by Google Inc. (GOOG)

The rot at Yahoo! set in years ago, arguably in the company's formative years during the dot-com boom. Even then, Yahoo!'s boardroom was dysfunctional. A power struggle between former CEO Tim Koogle and former president Jeffrey Mallett contributed to strategic gridlock (both lost). Potential acquisitions came and went--Google, eBay Inc. (EBAY), YouTube Inc.--as Yang dithered.

Behind the management turnover at Yahoo! over the years and the current exodus of top execs lies Yang's passive-aggressive management style, which seems more dedicated to preserving--or at least is unable to disrupt--the status quo. For an Internet company, vision, instinct and charisma are the key qualities for a CEO, not stolidity.

Obviously a key question for Yahoo! is whether Yang will remain as leader or whether someone else, such as president Susan Decker, will be drafted into the slot. With confidence in Yang ebbing and Wall Street, analysts and the press turning against the company, his days appear numbered. If Yang truly believes Yahoo! has a future, as he argued in rebuffing Microsoft, he must already suspect that he can have no part in it.

Comments

[lakeside]

"Jerry Yang's neck. It's no mystery why." --- yeah, Jerry Yang is no Steve Jobs.

[marketwatchr]

How could one consider Decker......? Just more of the same. The exit of management shows a no confidence is Decker as well.

[bato sa bato]

Do all these Yhoo execs. leaving entitled to the severance package designed by the BOD? It seems like more money is going tobe released before any shareholders see any gain in their investments!

[madmilker]

Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

[just for fun]

Have Carl get Yahoo a new fresh CEO and Get Susie out of there as well. This company needs more than a bandaid. And I have really lost respect for Roy Bostock. Get him out too. Just getting Roy out will save more than half million a year and Yahoo could start giving their shareholders a nice hefty dividend. I have alot of other good ideas but I am not going to state them publicly. And Jerry, You need and deserve a nice relaxing vacation.

[tyneham]

In addition to "vision, instinct and charisma" (above), Yahoo and Google directors must also have credibility and integrity. So, the question is, do the out going or former directors have the guts, credibility and integrity to expose Yahoo and/or Google in a way that would help stop defrauding online advertisers every day?

Internet click fraud is underestimated by web-traffic auditors. The fraud is deceptively downplayed by major financial beneficiaries and their small time accomplices or affiliates. Big or not, no online advertiser is immune from growing the fraud. There is mounting unease and concerns over the fraud on all websites that have affiliate programs. These serious, legal issues are not being addressed by the law makers in most countries.

US Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the Commerce, the Justice Department, Trade and Consumer Protection panel, the House Small Business Committee panel, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection panel and the Senate Commerce Committee and all law makers, for example, must also scrutinise the pending/proposed Yahoo-Google deal, and its impact on defrauded advertisers, big or small.

By some logical estimates, click fraud could be over sixty percent. However, even one percent of $90 billion of global 2008-2009 Internet ad spend is too high, mainly because advertisers, big or small, are still deceived, overcharged by millions and thus defrauded every day.

Read how, for example, "Yahoo protects online fraudsters, locks out legal ethical experts," web links here tyneham.wordpress.com , del.icio.us/tyneham?se... where some cases are cited, www.networkworld.com/c... , tyneham.blogspot.com , tyneham.newsvine.com