Jerry Yang has just resigned from Yahoo’s board and the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba. I expect people all over Twitter and the blogosphere will be quipping about how it’s about time.
And, probably, it is. Yang hasn’t exactly had a distinguished recent tenure at Yahoo. Chief among his missteps: Turning down an acquisition offer from Steve Ballmer that valued the company at $40 billion. Today it’s worth less than half of that.
But while I’m not arguing he should stay on the board, let’s not forget, Yang has added a lot of value. He founded the company to begin with for one. And he has long been a beloved down-to-earth figure to Yahoo’s lifer employees who love hanging out with him at URLs (the cafeteria on the Sunnyvale campus) and at Yahoo’s year end parties. And he was an important mediator during the blow-ups between former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Alibaba’s Jack Ma, helping to protect what was one of Yahoo’s most valuable assets at a pivotal moment for the company.
Sure, Yang was a failure as Yahoo’s CEO. But it was a classic case of a talented person being put in the wrong job. And who put him there? The board.
Yahoo has possibly the worst board in Silicon Valley. And it’s lead by Roy Bostock. I don’t know Bostock. Maybe he’s a nice guy. Maybe he’s the lone voice of reason on the board. But after years of epic-screw up after epic-screw up, shouldn’t he get shown the door at some point? Like, right now?
[...] leaves Yahoo! ($ YHOO) and it is believed that more board members will leave. (WSJ, AllThingsD, PandoDaily, [...]
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Like[...] leaves Yahoo! ($YHOO) and it is believed that more board members will leave. (WSJ, AllThingsD, PandoDaily, [...]
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Likesad new really, to quit your own baby
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Like[...] Roy Bostock is on the way out, and a source familiar with the situation had a good answer as to my question of why it hasn’t happened [...]
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LikeGreat question Sarah. I have no idea if Roy Bostock is the idiot who has been ruining Yahoo for years but someone has to be in charge and whoever that is, is definitely an idiot. Yahoo is or at least was an amazing company with lots of great products. Delicious, Flickr, MyBlogLog would be a few close to my heart. They have systematically destroyed everything cool they have ever done. It is sad. So many people want them to succeed. I hope their new CEO can finally turn it around for them.
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Like... that would be "led" but hoo cares ...
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LikeCorporate America doesn't particularly care for Founders and with that attitude they steal the original vision and spirit on which the company was founded... It's sad.
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LikeGreat blog Sarah! I'm definitely enjoying the blog posts coming through. Just an FYI, the word "from" in the blog title is missing! Wish you all success in this new venture.. work hard! Feel free to delete this comment upon reading.
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Likepfff. ok. and feel free to make ignorant comments anytime... Mr. Lay. Just an FYI. Feel free to ignore this comment upon whatever.
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LikeHow is that an ignorant comment?
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LikeI don't know if being well liked at the company's year end parties is something the board takes into account when deciding whether he should stay. They want results and Yahoo! has been going down hill for years now. As you said, I don't think it's all Yang but they're just looking for someone to blame. It seems like everyone but Yahoo! realizes all their mistakes so maybe a shake up in their board is exactly what this company needs so I hope this is only the beginning.
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LikeI believe with a new CEO, especially one with a good track record (technically, Bartz had a good record too though), and a new board, Yahoo! will finally be able to figure out where to head in the future. As sad as I am to see Yang go, he was too emotionally attached to the company and was holding it back for personal reasons.
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