Jerry Yang just put up a blog post on his reasons for stepping down as CEO of Yahoo.
In it, he highlights the successes of the past 18 months. Yahoo is now “rewired,” the new ad platform has been launched “that we think will transform how ads are bought and sold online,” and Yahoo remains “first or second in more than 20 product categories.” And he ends with the promise “that I will always bleed purple.” No matter what his critics might say.
The post is reproduced below in its entirety:
As you’ve no doubt already read, I’ve decided that I will step down from my role as Chief Executive Officer after my successor has been selected.
Ever since founding Yahoo! with David Filo 13 years ago, I’ve been passionate about this company, its brand, its employees, and the millions of people around the world who consider it their online home. That’s why I accepted the Board’s request to become CEO in June 2007, taking on the challenge of transforming Yahoo! at a time when the industry was evolving quickly and we needed to rethink and restructure our business.
And despite the tough external environment that we face, I truly believe we’ve made tangible progress in bringing our strategic vision to life. Most significantly, we’ve rewired our entire network to create a Yahoo! that has opened its doors to outside publishers and developers. We’ve launched an advertising platform that we think will transform how ads are bought and sold online. And we’ve continued to grow our audience –- standing first or second in more than 20 product categories and demonstrating that Yahoo! is the place users turn for major events like the Olympics and the Elections.
And now I believe the time is right for us to bring in a new leader –- someone who will build on the important pillars we’ve put in place and who will take the reins on the critical decisions our company faces. As for me, I’ll be returning to my role as Chief Yahoo and board member once my successor is named. I’ll go back to focusing on our global strategy, product excellence, technology innovation, and working with the Board and our executive team to help Yahoo! realize its full potential.
It’s been an extraordinary year here at Yahoo! –- for all of us. I’m really proud of the determination and resilience of Yahoos around the world who are so committed to giving you the best Internet experience possible. It is for them, and for you, that I will always bleed purple.
Jerry Yang
Chief Yahoo! and CEO
It only makes sense to step down when the company has finished transformation and with integrity. You can’t just leave because of critics when you are in the middle of something, especially after investing months of effort on it. It seems to me he had done that and Yahoo! will be ready for another ride. The past year was tough but I believe he’s done the right thing. It’s too early to say how the new Yahoo! will turn out though, but I don’t think his action is “too late”.
well said coolnalu
ditto
Good bye Jerry! Best of luck to you, you have followed your stars to the end.
What’s up with the capitalization?
Hmm… He’s on the defensive obviously. Let him say whatever he wants, nothing can hide the fact that the market went bullish right after he announced his stepping-down plan.
Ya, fuck you! $33 per share, NOW $11.81 PER SHARE. You sir are a criminal…
It’s not $11.81 per share. It’s now $11.71. Why do you lie, you fcker!
@ispy
You need to go to jail for lying, the share price is now at $11.74.
@Mike ….
Are you calling ispy a f’king lier, you LIER .. ?
Stock price is back down to $11.71 …
Get your facts straight before calling people lier, you fcker !!!!
@ispy and Mike
share price closed @ $11.45 , your f’cking crack smokers !!
and I’m out of beer…. where is my lawyer!!!!!! Because it could not be the economy????
“…redistribution of market data is strictly prohibited.” (quote).
hehe
yada, yada, yada…. and this happened
Somehow his statement “I will always bleed purple” points to the same ego because of which he did not sell the company to Microsoft. He is loyal to ‘purple’ color, not to shareholders.
He forgot ‘the board kicked me out on my ass because I’ve torpedoed the company’.
They tried to kick him in the ass, but his head was up there and got in the way. No doubt, he will find a way to drag the company down even further no matter what position he holds.
Its an interesting move and there is more to it than just stepping down:
1. I’ll step down when my successor is found: I am ready for takeover
2. I’ll be Chief Yahoo and I’ll go back to focusing on our global strategy, product excellence, technology innovation: My CEO is more like a COO, and I’ll actually be guiding the business
3. He’s changing the figurehead to deflect criticism, boost confidence and make way for a takeover. He still intends to run the ship till a takeover and maybe even after!
Good riddance.
You can now read the TechCrunch blog in an easy to read newspaper format at:
http://www.Libe...tyNewsprint.com
What a horrendous site.
I’m trying to make it prettier
You shouldn’t hire handicapped people to design and program your site.
And…an English class won’t hurt either.
Dude its a hobby and a work in progress. I haven’t designed anything yet, you know, I’m an Engineer not a wordsmith so help me out by proof reading it for me
“I Will Always Bleed Purple”
When I was in school they still taught that your blood was a purple/blue color until you bled and it became oxygenated. I guess Yang learned the same thing.
I guess Yang didn’t learn it. I mentioned that on Alley Insider yesterday. Nothing bleeds purple unless it lacks oxygen, in which it case it will actually “bleed” blue – which is technically impossible, since you cannot “bleed” without the blood hitting oxygen (”air”), and air will turn it red. So what Yang is saying, in fact, is that he will never bleed a drop of blood for Yahoo!. Nice. At least he found the shift key this time.
I’m not sure about the ad platform he refers to when he says it will transform the way ads are bought and sold online but through my years of experience of advertising on Yahoo I have found their systems to be slow, disorganized, and their customer service to be awful.
I think Yahoo would be well served to focus on becoming the alternative search engine to Google. They should impliment an ad platform that is robust and user friendly. They could become the search engine who cares about their advertisers and provides good customer service.
They should allow Google to continue and innovate and copy only those products rolled out by Google which are profitable. In the meanwhile they should take a page out of AOLs book and trim down their product offerings. For example: Search is clearly the most profitable sector on the web. They should probably discontinue some of their non or less profitable products and use the money they save from those operations to focus on building a better (end-user perception) of their search technology.
Most likely they’ll try to bring in some name brand executive that has rarely interacted with actual customers and continue to try and be a Jack of all trades. When they fail to make strides they’ll blame it on a down economy.
Meanwhile Google will continue to force their advertisers to pay more money for the same ads until enough 5th Avenue firms realize they’re being taken for a ride and start expecting actual returns from their online ad campaigns.
Thank God you are leaving – too late, but all’s well that ends well.
Yahoo Ad platform – ha ha ha ha .. the less said the better
Now we hope Microsoft can buy out Yahoo and give back something to the investor community.
People, Yahoo cannot come up with anything excellent or with a wow factor. Remember that long Jerry just collected a bunch of links to webpages and stuck them on one page. That gave birth to Yahoo. They dont have any good search algorithm to rival Google or even come up with decent results. Yahoo over the years has used Inktomi and other search engines. This just goes to show they are mediocre and cannot produce their own search. So if you dream of Yahoo somehow remaining relevant and making money of search ads like Google, ha ha ha ha I can only laugh at you.
They were so mediocre that they even purchased RocketMail to create Yahoo mail. And over the years the only thing they innovated was to offer a Microsoft Outlook like email client instead of the traditional Yahoo Mail interface. Fail!!
Yahoo has nothing innovative nor a money making idea. Long ago, former CEO Semel had said they would use the Yahoo reach to distribute Hollywood content. Sadly Yahoo did nothing and now Netflix and others deliver movies to your PC.
Yahoo has been a failure because ‘non business men’ like Jerry Yang were allowed to run it by proxy.
Jerry might be a great engineer – I doubt it though – but has failed in his duties as the captain of the ship to look after shareholder benefits.
Jerry please do the sensible thing now and let Microsoft buy your company and let the share holders salvage something at the very least.
Finally, someone speaks some truth about Yahoo.
completely agree
Glad to see Jerry’s actual words being quoted at length…and leading with a legit headline.
no all lowercase this cant be jerry yang writing then
I think the Yahoo! board should share a significant part of the blame with Jerry. When you are a distant #2 player in any industry, you put your pride aside and cash out to the highest bidder. And to make things worse, when a CEO says “I take responsibility” like Jerry did for the aborted Microsoft purchse, I would like to turn around and ask “How does that help me?” Failed corporate governance and a head strong CEO. Good riddance.
Jerry Yang’s new name is Mr. “I’m sowwy”…lol
so now he uses capitals, but when sacking his employees he doesn’t show them the respect to capitalise his memo. asshole.
He was messing with your head. =)
Bye Yang,~~
He deserves a certain amount of respect, he’s made some serious missteps this past year, but dude is still a legend!
*Watches the Yahoo! Afro ad*
Salutes!
Oh btw.
Check out http://www.jobstaxi.com
New Jobs. Razorfish. Art.com. Edge of Reality.
He was sleeping when the share holders were bleeding red. Too much cliche’.
No matter what, He is still somebody
HappyTutors.com
~ Connect Tutors with Students & Parents ~
Shouldn’t that be: “I will always bleed green”?
I think he has done most honorable thing to do. Thanks MR YANG.
he just wants to retire and hit the green everyday