Yahoo Inc said Jerry Yang will step down as chief executive as soon as the board finds a replacement, sending shares up 4 percent on hopes the departure would clear the way for a deal with Microsoft.
Yang -- who will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo, focusing on strategy and technology -- tried to carve an independent strategy for Yahoo and was blamed when Microsoft Corp walked away from an offer to buy Yahoo earlier this year.
Rival Google Inc abandoned a search advertising partnership amid regulatory concerns, and Yang faced a growing chorus of criticism from investors and analysts as Yahoo's shares nosedived.
Yahoo's months-long discussions with Time Warner Inc about combining with its AOL unit -- as yet another way to boost Yahoo's earnings -- have also failed to produce a deal.
"The company is in desperate need of change and this is clearly one way to do it," said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, adding that Microsoft could enter the picture again. "Jerry was the roadblock for the last deal getting done," he said.
Yang has consistently said that he would sell the company for the right price.
Microsoft declined to comment.
Yahoo shares rose to $11.10 in after-hours trading from their Nasdaq close of $10.63.
The shares are down nearly 65 percent from their 52-week high of $30.25, reached in February, two weeks after Microsoft made its $31-a-share offer public.
Microsoft withdrew its $47.5 billion buyout offer in May after Yahoo rejected the sweetened bid.
Yang, a co-founder of Yahoo, took on the CEO role in June 2007, hoping to strengthen its position as an online consumer brand.
"From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensable to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise," Yang said in a statement.
In an e-mail sent to employees, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, Yang said his decision to step down was taken jointly with Yahoo's board.
Yang has been talking with the board, which includes activist investor Carl Icahn, about stepping down since before Google pulled out of the search deal in early November, said a person familiar with the talks.
CHIEF YAHOO AGAIN
Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock is leading the effort to find a replacement, said Yang, who will continue to serve as a director.
"Jerry was miscast in this CEO role as far as running Yahoo at this point," said Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities. "He's much better off running strategy or technology behind the scenes."
Pyykkonen said it was a step in the right direction for Yahoo, but warned that a lot depends on the board's choice to replace Yang.
"Because he's stepping down doesn't mean the company is going to magically be wonderful again," he said.
Yahoo has hired the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles to look for both internal and external candidates.
The process could take anywhere between four weeks and 12 weeks, the source said.
Analysts listed several executives as potential candidates for the job, including former AOL chief Jon Miller, News Corp President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin, former eBay Inc Chief Executive Meg Whitman, former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig and Yahoo President Sue Decker.
The source familiar with Yang's talks with the board said Decker, No. 2 at Yahoo, was among the candidates being considered
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Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
SAP and Microsoft, Watch Your Back
Google Apps, Linux, and other free or inexpensive systems are winning more fans in the corporate world
The outlook for retailing may be dicey, but Gothic Cabinet Craft, a furniture chain with 40 stores in New York and New Jersey, has one variable under tight control: tech spending. It just installed a new computer system equipped with Google (GOOG) Apps, a collection of software, including e-mail and word processing, that runs on a Google data center rather than on Gothic's gear. The cost: just $32,000 for the new PCs and zero for Google Apps. The alternative was shelling out more than $100,000 for computers and Microsoft (MSFT) software. "We wouldn't have been able to do anything if the Google service wasn't available," says Aristidis Zaharopoulos, the company's vice-president.
The chain is among the more than 1 million companies using Google Apps. Large companies are on board, too, including Genentech (DNA), with 17,000 employees. Many customers pay nothing, while others spend $50 a year per user for advanced features.
As the U.S. enters what appears likely to be a painful recession, a major shift is taking place in how businesses assess technology products. They're under terrific pressure to cut costs. According to a newly revised forecast from market researcher IDC, growth in U.S. tech spending will decline to 0.9% in 2009, down from a previous forecast of 4.9% growth. But rather than just slice budgets across the board, many companies are switching to a handful of new technologies that save them money.
These technologies existed during the last recession, but they were immature. Now they're established, and the downturn seems likely to hasten their adoption. Chief among them are software delivered over the Internet, known as cloud computing, such as Google Apps; so-called virtualization software, which allows companies to run multiple applications on a single server computer; and open-source software, which is created collaboratively by multiple companies and is typically less expensive than the traditional kind. "These are tools that management can use to get through a crisis," says Michael Hickey, president of the Business Insight Div. of Pitney Bowes in Stamford, Conn., who just bought software from on-demand supplier Salesforce.com.
More here...
The outlook for retailing may be dicey, but Gothic Cabinet Craft, a furniture chain with 40 stores in New York and New Jersey, has one variable under tight control: tech spending. It just installed a new computer system equipped with Google (GOOG) Apps, a collection of software, including e-mail and word processing, that runs on a Google data center rather than on Gothic's gear. The cost: just $32,000 for the new PCs and zero for Google Apps. The alternative was shelling out more than $100,000 for computers and Microsoft (MSFT) software. "We wouldn't have been able to do anything if the Google service wasn't available," says Aristidis Zaharopoulos, the company's vice-president.
The chain is among the more than 1 million companies using Google Apps. Large companies are on board, too, including Genentech (DNA), with 17,000 employees. Many customers pay nothing, while others spend $50 a year per user for advanced features.
As the U.S. enters what appears likely to be a painful recession, a major shift is taking place in how businesses assess technology products. They're under terrific pressure to cut costs. According to a newly revised forecast from market researcher IDC, growth in U.S. tech spending will decline to 0.9% in 2009, down from a previous forecast of 4.9% growth. But rather than just slice budgets across the board, many companies are switching to a handful of new technologies that save them money.
These technologies existed during the last recession, but they were immature. Now they're established, and the downturn seems likely to hasten their adoption. Chief among them are software delivered over the Internet, known as cloud computing, such as Google Apps; so-called virtualization software, which allows companies to run multiple applications on a single server computer; and open-source software, which is created collaboratively by multiple companies and is typically less expensive than the traditional kind. "These are tools that management can use to get through a crisis," says Michael Hickey, president of the Business Insight Div. of Pitney Bowes in Stamford, Conn., who just bought software from on-demand supplier Salesforce.com.
More here...
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