Jerry Yang To Resign As Yahoo CEO

After news that the company’s net sales growth was just 3% in the last quarter compared to 14% of a year earlier, after an eventful year which saw him staving off a proxy fight with billionaire investor Carl Icahn by offering the latter three directorship positions on the Yahoo board, and after facing criticism for botching up the take over bid by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer by insisting for a higher sale price — Jerry Yang has finally thrown in the towel. The 40-year-young CEO of Yahoo!, who took on the mantle in June last year, has finally decided to step down from the post. Yang will continue to be CEO till a suitable replacement is found.

The new development comes immediately after the business deal with Google collapsed, which would have given the beleaguered company some room for maneuvering. It did not help that the world is going through its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the thirties. Large-scale layoffs have been the highlight of the past few months.

Yang’s departure forebodes an even worse last quarter for Yahoo. It also signals that the company can now be had at bargain-basement price by any cash-rich IT company, including Microsoft.

Read more about the latest development at Yahoo here.