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In a Surprise, Yahoo Co-Founder Jerry Yang Leaves Company. Will He Primarily Be Remembered for His $45 Billion Misstep?

Jan 18, 2012  •  Post A Comment

In a surprise move, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang announced Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, that he was leaving the company, according to a number of media reports.

Writes Mike Cassidy in the San Jose Mercury News: "It had to be hard for Jerry Yang to walk away from Yahoo on Tuesday. You know it had to be hard or he would have walked away years ago — which is exactly what many said he should have done."

Cassidy continues: "By Tuesday, Yahoo’s stock had been wheezing for years. No analysis of its troubles went by without mention of Yang bungling the opportunity to sell the company to Microsoft at a huge premium…"

Cassidy later explains: "Yang took the reins as CEO in 2007, and however misguided his thinking on Microsoft’s offer to buy the company for nearly $45 billion, it’s hard to imagine he was doing anything other than what he thought would work out best for Yahoo.But it didn’t work out at all and Yang was gone as CEO by 2009," returning to the board of the company.

Here’s the take on Yang’s departure from Forbes’ Eric Savitz: "After the [stock market] close Tuesday, the company announced that co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned as an officer and director of the company effective immediately. He also gave up his board seats at both Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Group…[T]he Street’s initial reaction was to bid up Yahoo shares. Why? Because Yang was viewed as an obstructionist, stubbornly convinced that Yahoo should continue on as a stand-alone company."

Jerry Yang:

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