Yang’s had enough of the CEO role at Yahoo

I you are surprised Jerry Yang is stepping down from his CEO role at Yahoo, you probably still believe in the tooth fairy. Yang returned to the role to breathe new life into the company whose biggest problem is that of always being compared to Google. What you will not often read is that Yahoo is the second most trafficed site in America and number one in some nations like Taiwan. That is accomplishment any other internet property would kill for. What Yahoo has not done well as well as Google is search - both in raw search results and monetizing them. I think Yahoo could do better here, but not in the space of weeks or months. The job will take years. The company needs someone who can address this to grow, and anyone trying to do a quick fix for the quarterly return will fail. The company also needs to do a better job of monetizing it’s dizzying array of offerings and services. It’s always possible Yahoo could out earn Google even if they never catch them in search.

Was Yang or his predecessor the right person to task with correcting course for Yahoo? No! Nor is Jerry Yang really leaving, he’s just changing roles.  Changes need to go much deeper into the company, and the head of the company needs to define and better articulate the company’s mission. That’s something that has been lacking at Yahoo for a very long time.

Jerry Yang, after a tumultuous reign as the chief executive officer of Yahoo, the company he co-founded with David Filo, announced today that he is stepping down from the top slot. The news was first reported by Kara Swisher and later confirmed by Yahoo in a press release. He is going to make way for someone else, but will stay on the board of Yahoo and will be known as Chief Yahoo. (GigaOm)