Yahoo!, the No. 2 search firm that has struggled in its battle with Google, said Monday that Terry Semel was out as chief executive officer, to be succeeded by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
Susan Decker, who heads a relatively new group that deals with the company’s advertisers and publishers, and until recently was also chief financial officer, was promoted to president.
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Terry Semel is no longer the CEO of Yahoo!
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Co-founder Jerry Yang is replacing Semel.
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Sue Decker, who had been in charge of a new group overseeing advertisers, was promoted to president.
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Yahoo’s stock has been flat while Google’s shares have risen more than sixfold since Google’s IPO in August 2004.
Wall Street cheered the moves, but some online advertising industry experts said Yahoo’s new management team still faces tough challenges.
Semel, who joined Yahoo chairman and CEO in May 2001, will stay on as non-executive chairman. But Semel has come under pressure from investors in the past year as the company has fallen further behind top rival Google in the online advertising market.
Shares of Yahoo surged 3 percent in heavy trading on Nasdaq Monday as speculation mounted that Semel might step down – and the stock rallied another 4 percent in after-hours trading.
Wall Street seemed to welcome the promotion of Yang since he is viewed as being far more tech-savvy than Semel, who had a background in traditional media before joining Yahoo.
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