Digital Media

Colleges in Tennessee will be required to root out file sharing.

(Credit: University of Tennessee )

Tennessee has agreed to filter computer networks for unauthorized music downloads at the state's colleges and universities.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen signed into law a bill designed to thwart music piracy at the state's campuses, the Recording Industry Association of America said on its Web site.

The bill requires Tennessee public and private schools exercise "appropriate means" to ensure that campus computer networks aren't being used to download copyright material via peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, the RIAA said.

"Upon a proper analysis of the network," the RIAA continued, "those institutions are required to implement technological support and develop and enforce a computer network usage policy to effectively limit the number of unauthorized transmissions of copyrighted works."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet-user advocacy group, called the law "ridiculous," and said the costs of enforcing it would top $9 million.

"The entertainment industry lobby seems to be succeeding, bit-by-bit in persuading legislators to coerce universities into buying 'infringement suppression' technologies," the EFF said in a blog post, adding that these technologies are expensive and "won't stop file sharing on campus networks."

The RIAA said that a 2007 Student Monitor survey found that more than half of college students download music and movies illegally.

A friend of mine, Patricia Montesinos, a senior at the University of Tennessee, said Tuesday she's seen no notifications yet from the school about filtering.

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is not one to hush up in the face of controversy or for that matter, let others get the last word in.

The owner of the pro basketball's Dallas Mavericks and founder of Broadcast.com has responded again to the insider-trading charges filed against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC accuses Cuban of selling his shares in Internet-search firm Mamma.com in 2004 after acquiring nonpublic information and avoiding a $750,000 loss. The feds charge that Cuban made an agreement with Mamma.com's CEO to not disclose the information about a future stock offering.

Cuban denied in a post on his personal blog that he made any such agreement. But we'll leave it for Cuban and his lawyers to explain. Below is a copy of the post from Cuban's blog.

On behalf of Mark Cuban

RE: SEC Civil Action in the United States District for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division

The SEC knows their case centers on one telephone conversation between two individuals- four years ago. The SEC claims there was an agreement between these parties to the conversation to keep certain information confidential. We interviewed Guy Faure, the former CEO of Mamma.com Inc., with whom the SEC claims Mr. Cuban made an agreement. We had a court reporter transcribe the interview. There was no agreement to keep information confidential. Here is a relevant excerpt from the interview with Mr. Faure:

CHRISTOPHER CLARK :

1) Q- We spoke earlier about you were telling Mr. Cuban in words or substance : "I have confidential information for you".

A- Right.

2) Q- Do you recall anything Mr. Cuban said in response or reply to that statement by you ?

A- No, I do not.

The SEC knows this-they have the transcript, yet they brought the case anyway. Why? Do they have a different statement from Mr. Faure ?

Why did the SEC end their multi-year investigation of Mamma.com Inc. for alleged securities laws violations days before interviewing present and former Mamma.com Inc. executives about this matter? Was the timing a coincidence? We think not.

Yahoo's board and outgoing Chief Executive Jerry Yang agree that his skills aren't the right ones to turn the company around. What strengths, then, should his successor have?

Given Yahoo's sluggish responsiveness and years of trouble, a turnaround expert with a high pain threshold certainly is a good place to start. But there are other options beyond that.

Among the options are a mergers-and-acquisitions specialist who might broker a deal with Microsoft or another partner, a buttoned-down operations expert who could speed up Yahoo's existing strategy, and a bold visionary who could take Yahoo in a new direction altogether. (Vote your opinion here, and weigh in with comments below.)

Opinions varied among experts surveyed about the matter, but one thing seems clear: a fresh set of eyes soon will look at Yahoo's business.

"An outsider seems like the best possible option," said Jennifer Chatman, an organizational behavior expert at the University of California at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. "They need someone who's less invested. Jerry Yang was there from the beginning...I think he's really suffered from not having an objective view of what the company is worth."

One source familiar with Yahoo's thinking shared the company's wish list of desirable attributes for Yang's replacement: someone with prior CEO experience who's got both operational and strategic skills, someone experienced in technology, and somebody energetic and young--which apparently means in his or her 40s or 50s. The company expects to come up with a pool of about a dozen candidates and settle on one within six months, though there's no hard deadline, the source said.

Companies searching for a new CEO typically select a handful of top requirements and attributes then work with an executive search firm to refine the qualifications list, said David Nosal, chief executive of Nosal Partners, one such firm. Yahoo could come up with a short list of candidates within 45 days or so.

Analysts also believe it's better to hire a new CEO whose experience tilts more toward the advertising and media realm than the technology realm. Yahoo still has a powerfully large audience, and it's not going to outdo Google when it comes to letting the robots rule the roost.

"You're in the business of aggregating audiences and selling them to advertisers," said Forrester analyst David Card. "How you create that has more technology than in TV or movies or newspapers, but it's not like you're in the business of having armies of developers who run massive server farms and bring efficiencies out of algorithms."

Outsell analyst Ned May agreed. "I think the technology is less important than the advertising and media focus," he said. Just coming up with new technology doesn't guarantee it'll be a hit, he said, citing Google Docs as an example. "You can build it and they won't come."

Opinions varied, though, on whether Yahoo wants a CEO who will bring a new strategy to the company or one that will bring the existing one to fruition.

May expects somebody who can execute the plan Yang set in place, which seeks to improve search and display advertising on the one hand and to offer users more active, useful Web sites on the other.

"I think it's an execution person--someone who works well with current company," May said.

But Terry Hendershott, a professor at Haas, expects bigger changes.

"They have a strategy problem," Hendershott said. "They've been existing on the idea that they have a lot of traffic and they'll someday monetize this. And they're not doing this very well."

Forrester's Shar VanBoskirk believes the current strategy is workable but needs some pizazz.

"They need somebody with a little bit of guts and some operational expertise," VanBoskirk said. "They don't lack for legacy, they don't lack for data, they don't lack for experience. They lack for the flash in making that all sexy again."

CNET News staff writer Dawn Kawamoto contributed to this report.

Timing is everything.

And, so, it should come as no surprise that Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang feels the "time is right" for a new leader to guide the embattled Internet search pioneer. The company announced Monday that it has started a search to replace Yang as CEO.

Two weeks ago, Yahoo's proposed search advertising partnership with Google was abandoned, after federal antitrust regulators indicated they would challenge the deal. For Yahoo, that dealt a blow to its plans to generate as much as $800 million in additional revenue, and had served as a cornerstone to ward off an earlier unsolicited buyout bid by Microsoft and later a search-only hybrid offer.

The failed search advertising partnership, in essence, marked a closed chapter in a series of tumultuous chapters that engulfed Yahoo's operations for the better part of the year. There were the failed buyout bids from Microsoft, followed by a proxy fight from dissident shareholder Carl Icahn (who has since become a company director), then intense negotiations with federal antitrust regulators over the Google deal.

In his blog posting Tuesday, Yang offers this assessment of his CEO tenure over the past 18 months:

Ever since founding Yahoo! with David Filo 13 years ago, I've been passionate about this company, its brand, its employees, and the millions of people around the world who consider it their online home. That's why I accepted the Board's request to become CEO in June 2007, taking on the challenge of transforming Yahoo! at a time when the industry was evolving quickly and we needed to rethink and restructure our business.

And despite the tough external environment that we face, I truly believe we've made tangible progress in bringing our strategic vision to life. Most significantly, we've rewired our entire network to create a Yahoo! that has opened its doors to outside publishers and developers. We've launched an advertising platform that we think will transform how ads are bought and sold online. And we've continued to grow our audience -- standing first or second in more than 20 product categories and demonstrating that Yahoo! is the place users turn for major events like the Olympics and the Elections.

And now I believe the time is right for us to bring in a new leader -- someone who will build on the important pillars we've put in place and who will take the reins on the critical decisions our company faces.

Yang notes he will continue to serve as CEO until a successor is named. Then he will resume his role as chief Yahoo, working on global strategy and improving the company's products and their development. Yang will also continue to serve on the company's board of directors.

In closing, Yang writes:

It's been an extraordinary year here at Yahoo! -- for all of us. I'm really proud of the determination and resilience of Yahoos around the world who are so committed to giving you the best Internet experience possible. It is for them, and for you, that I will always bleed purple.

File this one as improbable, but it's interesting that this rumor continues to crop up. Project Playlist, a little known start-up with 9 million monthly visitors, is supposedly kicking the tires on social media site iMeem, according to music industry sources.

The alleged acquiree, iMeem, which has 20 million monthly visitors, denied the rumors are true. "Project Playlist buying us is like us buying Apple. This is just not accurate," said Matt Graves, iMeem's spokesman and a longtime straight shooter.

So why is this acquisition scenario still being passed around the music industry?

Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Project Playlist, a company that provides an embeddable music player used at MySpace and Facebook, is primarily known for being accused last April of copyright violations in a lawsuit filed by the Recording Industry Association of America.

More recently, the company named Owen Van Natta, Facebook's former chief revenue officer, as CEO. Van Natta is also an investor in the company. The company also recently raised an additional round of funding.

So did the stirrings about an acquisition come from simple wishful thinking on the part of Project Playlist or is Van Natta looking to get out of the RIAA lawsuit by buying a music service with licensing agreements in place?

Updated at 9:47 a.m. PST, with details about the likelihood of any potential Yahoo overture to Microsoft.

If Yahoo wants to get Microsoft back to the negotiating table, it would do well to try the lure of a search-only deal--regardless of whether Jerry Yang is CEO.

That's the assessment from one influential Microsoft source.

"If Jerry was still CEO and called Steve tomorrow and said, let's talk about a search-only deal, I think Steve would listen," said the source. "Microsoft is open to a mutually beneficial search deal. But people are still lusting after a Yahoo (buyout) and no one is thinking about that in Redmond. There's been no discussion of it for months and months."

Apparently, the "lust" is still alive. In early morning trading Tuesday, as the stock market opened in the wake of the news that Jerry Yang will be stepping down as CEO, Yahoo's shares soared nearly 12 percent to $11.90 a share. Meanwhile, analysts churned out research notes speculating that Microsoft may come back with an offer to buy the entire company.

Yahoo's shares leaped early Tuesday on news that Jerry Yang would be stepping down as CEO.

(Credit: Yahoo Finance)

Analyst Benjamin Schachter at UBS noted in a report:

We still believe Microsoft will eventually own Yahoo. Jerry moving out of the CEO role may accelerate this. Yahoo is a key strategic asset in the online space and given the scarcity of key players of size, we see value here not reflected in the stock's current valuation.

UBS has a price target of $18 a share for Yahoo.

Analyst Jeffrey Lindsay of Sanford C. Bernstein said in his research note that Yang's resignation is a good sign, because it demonstrates Yahoo's board is frustrated with the company's performance and management. He further notes:

It is a signal they are prepared to examine more deal options, in particular with Microsoft.

Back in May, Microsoft walked away from the negotiating table after sweetening its initial unsolicited buyout bid for the entire company from $31 a share to $33 a share. But when Yahoo countered with a proposal of $37 a share, Microsoft ended its buyout talks for the entire company.

Yahoo's stock had closed at $19.18 a share on the day before Microsoft announced its $31 a share buyout offer.

The source noted that Yahoo and its investors should bury the notion of a full-up, or entire buyout, of all of Yahoo. If Yahoo were to come to the Redmond giant with a search-only buyout or a search-only partnership, however, that would get its attention--whether it's delivered by Yang or not.

And the source added that any expectation on Yahoo's part to reclaim the approximately $8 billion to $10 billion Microsoft had offered back in late May under its previous search-only, or "hybrid," deal would be a faulty assumption.

Yahoo's shares were trading in the $27 a share range when Microsoft submitted its search-only proposal. Yahoo's shares closed Monday at $10.63 a share.

"Microsoft would not be willing to buy Yahoo's search business at the price offered back in May," said the source.

Should Yahoo take the initiative and approach Microsoft with a search-only partnership, joint-venture, or proposal to sell just its search business, the source offered up one piece of advice to make the process smooth.

"Consistently, Yahoo's board didn't believe Steve. A hundred percent of everything he said in public was what he thought," said the source. "If people go back and carefully read his public statements, they'll see that what Steve said is what Redmond has been thinking."

Microsoft will likely have to wait awhile for any overtures from the Internet search pioneer, said one source familiar with Yahoo's thinking.

Yahoo is launching a CEO search and, as a result, would want to receive input from the new executive on whether it makes sense to approach Microsoft about a search-only deal or partnership.

As previously reported, the companies have not been in recent contact to date.

See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yahoo's ultimate search: A new CEO
• Yang's travails: A Yahoo timeline
• A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
• Jerry Yang memo to staff about stepping down

With the Monday evening announcement that Jerry Yang would step down as its chief executive, Yahoo's search for his replacement will not only be closely watched by its investors but also by the folks at Microsoft, according to sources.

In part, two people industry players and headhunters point to as possible good fits already have Redmond running through their veins. One is former Microsoft online and Windows chief Kevin Johnson, who recently left to take a CEO post at Juniper Networks, and the other is Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group, who came by way of the Aquantive digital-advertising acquisition.

"Kevin is the kind of guy that Yahoo needs," a Microsoft source said. "He has excellent execution, understands technology, is a hard worker, and people like working with him."

The source did note that it may be difficult to lure Johnson to Yahoo, given that he only recently started at Juniper, which may make McAndrews a stronger candidate.

"Take a sharp guy like a Brian McAndrews, who built up Aquantive and later sold it to Microsoft. He would be a good fit for Yahoo," said David Nosal, who heads up executive search firm Nosal Partners.

A digital-media executive also pointed to McAndrews as an excellent fit for Yahoo's top job, given his prior experience as a CEO in the digital-media industry.

Yahoo is seeking to replace its embattled CEO, who will be stepping down from his post after a successor is found. The company has hired executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles International to assist it in its search.

Microsoft declined to comment on Yang's announced resignation plans.

The Internet search pioneer also has an internal CEO candidate, its president and former Chief Financial Officer Sue Decker.

"Sue received great press as Yahoo's CFO, but her president's role has not generated as much good press," the Microsoft source noted, adding that it will be interesting to see whether Yahoo will use the CEO search process as a means to validate its selection of Decker as the CEO or to undertake an extensive CEO search.

One major Yahoo institutional investor hopes that Yahoo will name an outsider as Yang's replacement.

"I hope (Decker) doesn't get it. She's been part of the problem," the investor said, noting that Yang's CEO resignation is long overdue. "They need to clean house."

Yahoo's investors have been incensed since Microsoft pulled its $33-a-share buyout bid for the entire company last May. Yahoo had rejected the offer, countering with a proposal for $37 a share, before Microsoft broke off talks.

The Microsoft source said it will be interesting to see whether Yahoo names a CEO with a strong background in marketing, technology, or business.

Executive recruiter Nosal said he could think of several people from Google, four from Microsoft, and some from multimedia advertising companies who could serve as Yahoo's CEO.

"There are about 15 to 20 people around the world who could (fill) this role," Nosal said, adding that the search process could take approximately 50 days.

See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yang's travails: A Yahoo timeline
• A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
• Jerry Yang memo to staff about stepping down
• Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?

After nearly a year and a half at Yahoo's helm, Chief Executive Jerry Yang will step down once the company finds a replacement. Monday's announcement starts closing a chapter in the Internet pioneer's history that began in June 2007 when Yang replaced Terry Semel as CEO.

It's been a rough time. Yahoo's stock has dropped from $28.12 when Yang took over as CEO to Monday's close at $10.63.

But though Yang didn't build Yahoo into a Google-slayer, he hasn't been idle, either. The company looks very different from when he took over, with the new Amp platform launched and the Yahoo Open Strategy under way to fire up activity on Yahoo properties. Here's a recounting of Yahoo's recent history.

• June 12, 2007: Shareholders blast Semel and Yahoo's board at the company's 2007 shareholder meeting. Semel is defensive: "This is clearly a year of transition for our company. We believe we are well positioned now to take advantage of strong growth up ahead."

• June 18, 2007: Semel steps down. Yang, previously bearing the title of chief Yahoo, takes over as CEO.

• Jan. 7, 2008: Yang demonstrates Yahoo's vision for a revamped, more socially active Yahoo Mail, a key part of the company's effort to back off its media strategy and move toward a site that's more useful for Yahoo members and used by them more often.

• Jan. 29, 2008: Yahoo announces a layoff of about 1,000 employees while reporting fourth-quarter earnings. "We're making good progress executing on this strategy, and I'm confident we're heading in the right direction," Yang says. "This sort of transformation takes time, but we have the talent and the strong cash flow to succeed."

• Feb. 1, 2008: Microsoft publicly announces its $44.6 billion cash-and-stock offer to acquire Yahoo. "Microsoft's consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says in a letter to Yang and Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock. Yahoo's stock surges from a close of $19.18 the day before the offer was made public to close at $28.38.

• Feb. 11, 2008: Yahoo rejects Microsoft's offer, saying "Microsoft's proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo." The company would repeat this rationale several times in coming negotiations.

• Feb. 12, 2008. Yahoo's layoffs begin.

• April 5, 2008: Microsoft sets an ultimatum for a Yahoo response, threatening to take the matter directly to Yahoo shareholders.

• May 3, 2008: Discussions break down. Microsoft says it's really not interested in Yahoo. "By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table," Ballmer says in a letter to Yang. "But clearly a deal is not to be."

• May 4, 2008: Microsoft and Yahoo had come close in their price discussions. Microsoft had offered $33 per share, while Yahoo had been willing to go as low as $37. Yang tries to rally the troops as news of the breakdown goes public by telling Yahoo employees that "there's a reason why we're the only Fortune 500 company with an exclamation point at the end of our name, and now is the time to demonstrate what that exclamation point stands for."

• May 18, 2008: Microsoft talks with Yahoo restart--for a narrower slice of the company.

• June 12, 2008: Yahoo and Google announce a search-ad partnership under which Google will supply some advertisements for Yahoo search results. The two will share the revenue, and Yahoo expects $800 million in revenue and $250 million to $450 million in new operating cash flow during the first year of the deal. Meanwhile, Yahoo said talks to sell its search business to Microsoft broke down.

• June 26: After numerous executive departures, Yahoo announces a reorganization that centralizes some power.

• July 12, 2008: Yahoo rejects a proposal to sell its search assets to Microsoft.

• July 14, 2008: Carl Icahn, who owns about 5 percent of Yahoo stock and who had strongly urged a Microsoft deal, begins an effort to oust Yahoo's board of directors and replace them with his own slate.

• July 21, 2008: Yahoo settles with Icahn, agreeing to give him and two allies a seat on the board.

• July 29, 2008: Investor T. Boone Pickens dumps 10 million Yahoo shares.

• Aug. 1, 2008: Yahoo shareholders gripe about the company's performance at the company's annual meeting. "We might not see $33 again for two years," says Patrick Sheridan, who came from New York for the meeting. "I might have to cut my losses. I voted against the entire board."

• Aug. 5, 2008: After uncovering a vote-counting slip-up, Yahoo finds support for Yang and Chairman Roy Bostock much lower than initially expected. A total of 33.7 percent of shares withheld votes for Yang, 39.6 percent withheld votes for Bostock.

• Aug. 6, 2008: Carl Icahn joins Yahoo's board.

• Oct. 21, 2008: Yahoo reports a 64 percent decline in net income, lowers its financial performance forecast, warns of a softer ad market, and says the layoff will result in at least 1,430 losing their jobs. Despite the bad news, Yang maintains an optimistic tone that focuses on an indefinite future when the economy looks better. "While the advertising market goes through a down cycle, we believe the Internet ad market will recover, with Yahoo positioned to take share," Yang said.

• Nov. 5, 2008: The Justice Department's threat of an antitrust lawsuit kills the Yahoo-Google ad deal. Yahoo expresses its dismay, but Google--growing ever more dominant and facing more scrutiny as a result--doesn't think a big legal fight is worth it. The companies had proposed a narrower deal to the Justice Department, but to no avail, so Yahoo must bid adieu to $800 million in new revenue.

• Nov. 17, 2008: Yahoo announces Jerry Yang will step down as CEO once a successor is found. "All of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple. I will always do what I think is right for this great company. While this step will be an adjustment for all of us, I know it's the right one," Yang says in a memo to Yahoo employees.

See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yahoo's ultimate search: A new CEO
• A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
• Jerry Yang memo to staff about stepping down
• Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?

Updated 8:29 p.m. PST with analyst comment.

Jerry Yang's resignation as chief executive of Yahoo opens the door wide for another Microsoft offer, several sources said Monday.

"I would expect Microsoft to come back within the next three or four months," said Eric Jackson, an activist Yahoo shareholder who was among the investors angry with Yahoo's management for not accepting Microsoft's previous bid. "I think Microsoft will come back because Microsoft needs Yahoo, despite what they've been saying publicly, and I think they know that," Jackson added.

Financial analysts also were licking their chops about the possibility. "We still believe Microsoft will eventually own Yahoo. Jerry moving out of the CEO role may accelerate this," said UBS analyst Benjamin Schacter. "Yahoo is a key strategic asset in the online space, and given the scarcity of key players of size, we see value here not reflected in the stock's current valuation."

Bank of America's analyst team expects a deal with Microsoft, too, but a narrower one. "We continue to believe a search deal with Microsoft is possible, but do not rule out an all-out deal for the company," the analysts said.

And a former Yahoo executive who asked not to be named also predicted that Microsoft would come calling now that Yang is not at the helm.

"There was a lot of bad blood during the last discussions between Yang and Microsoft executives," he said. "I would assume that Microsoft's search business cannot do well on its own. Yahoo's (search business) cannot do well on its own and it makes a lot of sense to combine."

The executive said Microsoft likely wouldn't want to buy all of Yahoo; just the search business.

Earlier this month Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw cold water on a Yahoo deal. Despite Yahoo's deflated stock price, he's not interested in "going back and re-looking at an acquisition."

"We tried at one point to do a partnership around search, not advertising. That didn't work either, so we moved on, and they moved on," he said at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch in Sydney on November 7.

However, neither Microsoft's nor Yahoo's search businesses have made much progress in competing against Google and both could use a boost in a downturned economy.

"Even with the bad economy and decline of Microsoft's stock price, this is a deal that makes strategic sense," Jackson said. "It's a natural time given this move for Yahoo to reassess. The board is feeling incredible pressure and guilt and anger from shareholders for passing on the deal before."

And Microsoft would get a deal this time, he predicted. "Yahoo shareholders now would be over the moon if they could get $20 a share, which is where stock was at a few weeks ago," he said.

CNET News' Stephen Shankland contributed to this report.

See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yahoo's ultimate search: A new CEO
• Yang's travails: A Yahoo timeline
• A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
• Jerry Yang memo to staff about stepping down
• Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?

Here is the full text from Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang about his decision to step down to his earlier role as Chief Yahoo.

From: Jerry Yang

Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 5:03 PM

Subject: update

yahoos -

i wanted to address all of you on the news we've just announced. the board of directors and I have agreed to initiate a succession process for the ceo role of yahoo!. roy bostock, our chairman of the board, is leading the effort to identify and assess potential candidates for consideration by the full board. the board will be evaluating and considering both internal and external candidates and has retained heidrick and struggles to help in this effort.

i will be participating in the search for my successor, and i will continue as ceo until the board selects a new ceo. once a successor is named, i will return to my previous role as chief yahoo and continue to serve as a director on the board.

last june, i accepted the board's request that i assume the ceo role to restructure and reposition the company as a whole in order to more effectively meet the fast-changing needs of both users and partners. since taking on the ceo role, i have had an ongoing dialogue with the board about succession timing. thanks in large measure to your tireless efforts, we have created a more open, competitive yahoo! and we believe the time is now right to transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level.

despite the external environment we face, the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago. this only makes it all the more essential that we manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point as effectively as possible. i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.

all of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple. i will always do what I think is right for this great company. while this step will be an adjustment for all of us, i know it's the right one. i look forward to updating you on this process as soon as the board has developments to share, and will continue to do everything i can to make yahoo! fulfill its full potential.

thank you,

jerry

See also:
• Yahoo CEO Yang to step down
• Yahoo's ultimate search: A new CEO
• Yang's travails: A Yahoo timeline
• A pity for Yahoo that John McCain didn't win
• Microhoo revisited: Would it be a search-only deal?