Techcrunch first reported that COO Dan Rosensweig is going to leave the company by end of March, and Sue Decker will run finance and sales. There was a lot of chatter around a senior executive level meeting at Yahoo, that had been webcast. It was attended only by C-level and top VPs.
Wall Street Journal reports that media-group head Lloyd Braun might be gone as well. WSJ says Decker is likely being groomed to take over from Semel when he retires. Yahoo has issued a press release confirming the shake-up.
Many Silicon Valley insiders in the know have questioned future of Yahoo CEO Terrey Semel, and we have heard that there is some discord with the board members. Given the poor performance of Yahoo stock, and other problems have put Semel, once regarded the sage who saved Yahoo on a weaker footing. Braun’s exit shows that the erstwhile savior might have lost some of his political capital. Braun was one of the executives Yahoo hired at the behest of Yahoo.
With the leaking of the Peanut Butter Manifesto to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo’s dirty laundry started coming out. What we are seeing is the fallout of that. We had pointed out the exodus of Yahoo managers was a sign of a growing internal malaise.
I am calling it Yahoo 2.0
http://www.centernetworks.com/yahoo-reorganization-plans-announced
Stock is up a tiny bit in after-hours trading, though the news should be felt in the AM.
As I noted in my post, “Drive organizational effectiveness” means “fire/layoff staff” – Remember it’s rare that the execs go first, they are the ones making the rules!
Terry’s background is one that Yahoo can use but the course of direction was never set. What I mean by that is Terry has a better grasp of content creation than anyone in the tech field. Major moneymaking content creation, not user generated bullcrap that’s hot right now but will be ho hum in a couple of years… why isn’t the company playing to that strength?
Yahoo could be the hottest portal around but I think the culture is against allowing it to have that pizazz. Unfortunately, folks in silicon valley forget that America LOVES flash and I’m not talking the Adobe kind.
My message to the Yahoos: When you come out of the companywide introspective phase refocus and use your strengths. You have more than everyone else, you just have to wake up, smell the coffee and realize it. Stop sleeping already!!!
it’s yahoo doomsday part 1..
not so much about terry leaving as it is about who fills those shoes.
not sure decker has the vision, altho she appears to be a capable numbers & operations person.
still, that doesn’t strike me as being the big gaping void in the org — they need someone like Jobs to set the course, then someone like Decker can hold the rudder to steer the ship to get there. but without a leader setting the compass point, they are just another really big ship becalmed.
Dan R leaving Yahoo is a major loss for the company. Having worked with Dan, I know how committed, passionate and effective he is. This is the beginning of the end for Yahoo…