Yahoo chief executive steps down

Yahoo's chief executive steps down after six years

The chief executive of internet search firm Yahoo, Terry Semel, has resigned following disappointing trading results and the increasing dominance of Google.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will take over the role Semel has held since 2001 and executive vice president Susan Decker has been promoted to president.

The company has been criticised in recent years for poor technology and a lack of innovation while profits fell 16 per cent in the first quarter.

Semel’s resignation has a ring of inevitability about it, says Ovum analyst David Bradshaw, though he will remain at Yahoo as a non-executive chairman and advisor.

‘Something has to give in the combination of a relatively under-performing company and a chief executive who is one of the highest paid in corporate America,’ he said.

‘In the end Semel resigned, apparently of his own accord though we would imagine that there were some frank behind-the-scenes discussions with the board of directors.’

Yahoo is being overshadowed by Google, Bradshaw says, which has a much simpler business because it is 99 per cent dependent on search-based advertising.

Yahoo has some advantages over Google, including far more email users, but is not getting sufficient reward from this area.

‘We can not see a change in leadership producing any sort of quick fix,’ says Bradshaw.

‘In the long term, Yahoo has to find a way of getting a better return from its diversity. Being just a pale shadow of Google is not an option.’