Jerry Yang Leaves YAHOO!

Jerry Yang is one of the original founders of YAHOO, which is the company he started with partner David Filo.  Jerry Yang has decided to leave the company he helped to start in 1995.  YAHOO was one of the forerunners of web search in the 90’s.  YAHOO is currently struggling to gain a foothold amidst fierce competition from Google and Facebook for users and advertising.  As stated in an earlier post YAHOO is absolutely considering selling itself to Asian partner Alibaba and other private equity firms.  There are those that feel, with Jerry Yang not in the picture, negotiations with Alibaba will run more smoothly.  Jerry Yang held the position of CEO from June 2007 to 2009.  One of YAHOO’s investors Third Point, LLC asked for Yang to step down from his position as director.

Jerry Yang was born in Taiwan and grew up in San Jose, California.  Yang was a Stanford University doctoral student when he co-founded the company with partner  David Filo.  Both partners took the company public in 1996.  In the beginning as web traffic was climbing YAHOO’s stock market value grew to just over $100 billion.  YAHOO is now valued at $19.1 billion.

The name YAHOO is actually an acronym for: Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.  As students the YAHOO program was on Jerry Yang’s computer workstation and the actual initial software was on David Filo’s computer.  As stated earlier when the traffic grew, the pair sought venture capitalists to obtain funding.  Eventually Sequoia Capital began the funding process for YAHOO in April 1995 with the first investment allotment being close to $2 million.  Those of us who were watching the evolution of technology in the 90’s thought that YAHOO would always be amongst the leaders in web search.  The reality is that technology changes in such a way that all companies must stay on their toes to make sure they are giving the public exactly what they need.  If a company gets complacent and does not keep up with current consumer needs, another innovative company may jump right into the slot they thought was fixed, sure and guaranteed.

Related Post See Below:

Jack Ma’s: Alibaba To Buy Yahoo!

https://jameshamlett.com/2011/12/02/jack-mas-alibaba-to-buy-yahoo/

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Category: Tech Talk