SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday its co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned from its board of directors, severing all ties with the Internet company he started nearly two decades ago.
In a statement, Yang said: “the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside Yahoo.” He added that he was also was resigning from his positions on the boards of Yahoo Japan Corp. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., in which Yahoo owns significant stakes, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Yang’s departure comes shortly after Yahoo hired a new chief executive, Scott Thompson, the former president of eBay Inc.’s PayPal unit. Yahoo also continues to weigh its strategic options, people familiar with the matter have said. The company has been struggling to grow for years against rivals such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.
A spokeswoman for Yahoo said she had no information about whether Yang would be replaced.
Yang didn’t inform all of his fellow directors much before Yahoo announced his departure Tuesday, according to one person familiar with the situation. Nor did he give any hint about his imminent exit during recent board conference calls, this person added.
Nevertheless, the Yang exit isn’t surprising. “The investment community has been very critical,” the informed individual said. “He has been chasing a lot of criticism,” this person continued. “It’s probably the right thing to do. He has been badgered so much [by investors].?
Yang probably believes the timing is also right because Yahoo now has a new CEO, this person suggested. Thompson, hired two weeks ago, filled a job that had been vacated when the board ousted Carol Bartz four months earlier.
In addition to sitting on Yahoo’s board, the 43-year-old held the ill-defined job of “Chief Yahoo.” As of November he owned a 3.8 percent stake in Yahoo, and has previously displayed a strong desire to keep Yahoo independent.
Recently, Yang and Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock have been criticized by shareholders unhappy with how the company has been handling its strategic review. Daniel Loeb?the head of hedge fund Third Point LLC, one of Yahoo’s largest shareholders? called for Yang to resign his board seat in November and threatened to launch a proxy fight.
Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with David Filo and served as a member of the board since March 1995 and as chief executive from June 2007 to January 2009.
While Yahoo still has some of the Web’s most popular destinations, including its Yahoo.com home page and sports, news and entertainment-content sites, it has struggled to keep pace with Facebook and such other content sites as ESPN.com.
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