The end of an era started today as news broke that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang announced that he will be stepping down. The news appeared to break first on Boomtown, as Karen Swisher broke the story of who many consider a truly nice person who helped shape the Internet.
Swisher wrote that “… in a memo to Yahoo’s employees, obtained by BoomTown, Yang confirmed the pending departure, writing: “…we believe the time is now right to transition to a new CEOwho can take the company to the next level.”
Many analysts believe that the changing economy combined with an older web revenue model may make this the perfect time for a change at the helm. New promising offerings from Yahoo! include a strong mobile search and Yahoo! Web Analytics. These can still make this giant a force not to be taken lightly – or a target of a buy-out.
Yang will reportedly stay on until a replacement is found.
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