Internet giant Yahoo has announced that company co-founder Jerry Yang has been named the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Terry Semel who will step into a role as non-executive chair of Yahoo’s board of directors.
Semel came to Yahoo as CEO in 2001 as the dot-com bubble burst and Yahoo was facing a nadir of its online businesses. Semel led the company in a significant turnaround; however, he has been facing mounting pressures as the company struggles to compete against the likes of Google and Microsoft for dominance of the Internet search, online advertising, and Internet software markets. Yahoo has seen its profits decline by 16 percent since the beginning of 2007, and currently commands roughly one quarter of U.S. online searches.
