Pundit Picks For Yahoo CEO

Everyone's Pick For Yahoo CEO

Read up on what everyone is saying about who should or inevitibly will be Yahoo's next CEO. Then go vote for your choice or write-in a name in the comments.

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Writes BoomTown's Kara Swisher: "Obviously, the dream CEO for Yahoo is News Corp. President and COO Peter Chernin. Chernin has the right resume: Experienced at running large and complex organizations; savvier than most in media about the Internet; able to make the kinds of dramatic decisions needed; and, perhaps best of all, signaling-via the Los Angeles Times-just this past week that he was open to leaving the powerful media and entertainment conglomerate for something new.

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Writes Bits's Saul Hansell: "Yahoo doesn't need a chief executive so much as an editor in chief. And I mean the sort of imperial editor who has a vision of how to create an environment that lures in both readers and advertisers, like Tina Brown, Clay Felker or Adam Moss."

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Writes PaidContent's Rafat Ali: "Whether it wants a Silicon Valley-engineering-culture-steeped executive; or a media-business-New York-centric executive who will be the ad-industry bridge; or for that matter, an entertainment executive from LA, who would help build Yahoo's brand reach and bring in the big bucks (Terry Semel experience will make it wary, though). That decision would help define the future of Yahoo, and whether it survives as an independent company"

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Writes GigaOm's Om Malik: "Hopefully they will bring on a no-nonsense, [HP CEO] Mark Hurd-style executive who can stabilize and revive the company by making it leaner, simpler and have it focus on its core competencies. For PE investors, there is also comfort in the fact that Yahoo can at anytime sell its Asian holdings for a ton of cash. They might be able to find some takers for their European properties as well."

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Writes Valleywag's Owen Thomas: "[Frontier CEO Maggie Wilderotter] has several pluses: She's actually been a Silicon Valley CEO, unlike Yang, previous to his current run in the position, and Decker, who's long aspired to a top job somewhere, but now looks farther than ever from getting it. With media, advertising, computing, and telecommunications merging into a single business, it strikes me that most of Yahoo's board and management are ill-equipped for the transition. Not Wilderotter, who's worked for Microsoft and AT&T and run Wink Communications, an interactive-TV company which she took from startup to IPO, through boom and bust."

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Writes CNET's Stephen Shankland: "Analysts also believe it's better to hire a new CEO whose experience tilts more toward the advertising and media realm than the technology realm. Yahoo still has a powerfully large audience, and it's not going to outdo Google when it comes to letting the robots rule the roost."

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Writes the Daily Beast's Eric Jackson, picking Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "The best outcome for Yahoo! shareholders of course would be if the new search committee never selected a CEO. This company should use this change in leadership to go back and open discussions with Microsoft about selling the company. This made sense when Microsoft made its initial offer last January at $31 and it makes sense (triply so) now."

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Writes TechCrunch's Michael Arrington: "Who will be the next CEO? We speculated back in June that Jeff Mallet orDan Rosensweig were possible candidates. Mallet wouldn't consider the job, we've heard. But Rosensweig would probably take it if offered. Whoever ends up with the job, let's just hope it's an outsider. Yahoo is being clear that they are considering internal candidates. President Sue Decker is likely being considered. But ex-execs we've spoken with say she was a big part of the problem at Yahoo, and if she takes over as CEO it will likely be more of the same."

Ed: Left brain or right brain. 

The answer is both. The CEO must know both the technologies that drive innovation and the editorial skills to sustain audiences. 

A superficial executive who does not understand the robotic, statistical, and fast evolving nature of the Internet will fail to make the right decisions. Conversely, the Internet is the largest global, consumer market - a challenge beyond the editorial experience of any past media executive. 

Yahoo is not ready for a financially focused executive like Hurd. Top sales guys can be hired. The company needs to respond with innovation to match Google and Microsoft. 

Given Ballmer at Microsoft, Schmidt at Google, and Jobs at Apple - I suspect the left brain will dominate, but the choice will be a consumer savvy executive.