Semel Steps Down As Yahoo! Chairman

Jun 19, 04:38 PM

Current Headlines: By NO BYLINE

TERRY SEMEL, the chairman of internet search company Yahoo! has quit as head of the firm after six years. He will be replaced by co- founder Jerry Yang, who will take on the role of chief executive.

It is though that Mr Semel - who will remain chairman in a non- executive role - bowed to investor pressure to step down after he led what was seen as an increasingly ineffectual campaign to keep pace with online search leader Google.

Yahoo's stock price has seen a near 30 per cent drop during the past 18 months as the company's financial growth fell further behind Google's breakneck pace.

Mr Semel said: "I felt like it was time for me to move more into a coach's role than a player's role."

Mr Yang, who still owns a four per cent stake in the company currently worth about GBP 755 million, dropped out of Stanford's electrical engineering PhD program, following in the footsteps of a legendary line of student dropout entrepreneurs, including Apple founder Steve Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

This will be the first time in more than a decade that he has been in charge of the company. Mr Semel took the reins six years ago in the wake of the bursting of the technology stock bubble.

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