18
June
2007
|
23:23 PM
America/Los_Angeles

Newswatch 6.19.07: At Yahoo, Semel finally goes down

Semel quits Yahoo!

[News.com] Yahoo! chief executive Terry Semel stepped down on Monday and handed the reins of the struggling search company to co-founder Jerry Yang after six years on the job. Susan Decker, former chief financial officer and head of the advertiser group, has been named president.

The shakeup comes nearly one week after a somewhat contentious shareholder meeting in which stockholders criticised Semel's pay in light of the company's lacklustre stock price and failure to mount any serious challenge to Google on search and search advertising.


Back to the Future

[News.com commentary]Until now, though, I thought the board was stalling while headhunters conducted a quiet search. What superstar CEO wouldn't covet the opportunity to lead Yahoo! out of the wilderness? Just shows how little I understood about the dynamics inside Yahoo! Instead of aiming high, the board settled for what was safe and familiar.

Yang's vision

[Jerry Yang] What is that vision? A Yahoo! that executes with speed, clarity and discipline. A Yahoo! that increases its focus on differentiating its products and investing in creativity and innovation. A Yahoo! that better monetizes its audience. A Yahoo! whose great talent is galvanized to address its challenges. And a Yahoo! that is better focused on what’s important to its users, customers, and employees.


The past year has obviously not been an easy one for us. But we’ve taken important steps to address the challenges we face, and we’re starting to realize some of the benefits – especially with the successful launch of Panama, which continues to receive positive feedback from advertisers and is exceeding our expectations. By the way, that’s directly attributable to the operational excellent mentality Terry has instilled and is a clear sign one of his most critical initiatives is succeeding.


YouTube launches local versions

Our electronic waste is piling up overseas

[Stateline] California's growing efforts to recycle electronic waste are pushing piles of toxin-laden scrap to countries that are supposed to reject some of those exports.

HP acquires SPI Dynamics

[News.com] The Web application security company is to become part of HP's Technology Solutions Group. SPI Dynamics' tech is already integrated with HP Quality Center software.