Yahoo!: Koogle, Semel, Yang... Next?

Yang’s Stepping Down Adds $1.8 Billion To Yahoo’s Market Cap

Jerry Yang is the $1.8 billion man. The stock market thinks Yahoo is worth that much more without Yang at the helm.

That’s approximately how much the market capitalization of Yahoo’s stock went up this morning, with the first trade after last night’s announcement that Yang would be stepping down as CEO. The shares were up nearly 12 percent in early morning trading. They opened at $11.94, compared to a close of $10.63 last night. (The $1.31 difference X 1.4 billion shares outstanding = $1.83 billion)

With Yang gone, the prospects of a renewed deal with Microsoft (at least on the search advertising front) are now greater. So are the prospects of finding someone who can take Yahoo, and hopefully it’s stock, in a new direction

Yahoo!: Koogle, Semel, Yang... Next?

It seems like only yesterday - or almost a year and a half ago - that Yahoo!'s Jerry Yang was named interim CEO of the embattled and fragmented company he co-founded. Taking the helm of Yahoo! following entertainment-industry veteran Terry Semel left Yang awash in the throes of a mishmash of "Web company meets traditional media company" - plus a bunch of Web 2.0 acquisitions sprinkled here and there.

By any estimation, the position he inherited would have been a challenge for even the most seasoned executive. So it comes as little surprise that Yang has announced he is stepping down from the position of chief executive, returning to his role as Chief Yahoo! ...