Yahoo! Conducting Search for New CEO

Yahoo! Inc. announced that it's searching for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board.

Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues. Jerry Yang and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and Yahoo! all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level.

The company is deeply grateful to Jerry Yang for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and they are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board.

"From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise," said Jerry Yang. "When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth.

"Having set Yahoo! on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo! realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation."