Yahoo! CEO Logs Off

Semel leaves post as tempers flare over poor performance— and sky-high pay
By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 18, 2007 4:48 PM CDT
Yahoo! CEO Logs Off
Yahoo CEO Terry Semel delivers a speech in this file photo, Friday, Jan. 6, 2006 at the International Consumer Electronics Show, CES, in Las Vegas. Semel ended his six-year stint as chief executive officer Monday, June 18, 2007, and will hand over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang in the Internet...   (Associated Press)

Yahoo CEO Terry Semel is out. In a surprise announcement, Yahoo said today that co-founder Jerry Yang will take over from Semel as CEO, who will step down immediately. The embattled Semel, who's been the target of recent shareholder ire, will stick around as non-executive chairman; Susan Decker, former head of advertising, is set to become Yahoo's new prez.

Shareholders at last week's annual conference hounded Semel over the company's sluggish growth—and his oversized $70M-plus paycheck—and many industry observers viewed it as a matter of time before the former Hollywood exec stepped down. Say blogger Rafat Ali: "This is a huge surprise, even though we knew it was imminent." (More Terry Semel stories.)

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