Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down from his job as CEO as soon as the board finds a replacement for him, according to a media release from Yahoo late Monday.
Yang will return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor, and he will also continue to serve on the Board.
Yang’s time as CEO has been anything but stellar, with Yahoo twice rejecting takeover offers from Microsoft priced up to $33 a share, only to have the stock drop below $10 a share less than 6 months later. Perhaps as a sign of the markets lack of faith, YHOO shares traded up 4.5% in after hours trading once the news had broken.
Names being mentioned as possible replacements for Yang include former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former AOL CEO Jon Miller.
Yahoo said that its search for a new CEO will “encompass both internal and external candidates,” and that it has retained the executive search firm Heidrick Struggles to assist in finding a replacement.
