Originally published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Wary shareholders catalyst for Yahoo's leadership changes
Yahoo is setting up a new chain of command amid the turmoil triggered by the embattled Internet icon's snub of Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid.
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is setting up a new chain of command amid the turmoil triggered by the embattled Internet icon's snub of Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover bid.
Under the new pecking order announced Thursday, executive vice presidents Hilary Schneider and Ash Patel are being given expanded responsibilities over the company's products and sales teams.
Schneider, a former newspaper executive, has been moving up the ranks since she joined Yahoo in September 2006. Patel has played a key role in developing many of Yahoo's most popular products, including its finance section and instant-messaging service, since joining the company 12 years ago.
Yahoo also is reorganizing its technology division in an effort to use its computing power more effectively and improve the coordination between its product developers and engineers.
This is the third time in 19 months that Yahoo has redrawn its management chart as it tries to snap out of a financial malaise that has ravaged its stock price, jeopardized its independence and demoralized employees.
In the other two shake-ups since November 2006, Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig and Chief Executive Terry Semel resigned.
This time, both of Yahoo's top executives — co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang and President Susan Decker — are staying put despite shareholder unrest about the company's recent decisions.
Decker said that she and Yang had been working on the latest changes for several months as part of the company's efforts to become a one-stop destination for online advertisers and build an even more appealing Web site for consumers.
The overhaul comes as the company tries to fend off a shareholder mutiny led by activist investor Carl Icahn and to fill a leadership vacuum created as dozens of senior managers and top engineers have headed for the exits during the past year.
Although he remains in charge, Yang might not be CEO much longer if he can't placate Yahoo shareholders still upset about the company's rejection of Microsoft's $47.5 billion takeover offer.
Investors apparently weren't impressed with Thursday's shake-up. Yahoo shares fell 64 cents to finish at $21.37.
Yang is the focal point of shareholders' wrath because his prickly relationship with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer culminated in the withdrawal of the software maker's last oral offer of $33 per share. That offer was 72 percent above Yahoo's stock price before the bidding began.
![]()
The final straw came May 3 when Yang demanded $37 per share, a price that Yahoo's stock hasn't reached in nearly two and a half years.
To make matters worse, Yahoo's market value has dropped nearly $10 billion, or 24 percent, since Yang replaced Semel as CEO a year ago.
If he wins control of Yahoo's nine-member board later this summer, Icahn intends to fire Yang as CEO. Shareholders get to pick between Yahoo's current board — including Yang — and Icahn's alternate candidates at Yahoo's Aug. 1 annual meeting.
Icahn confirmed his plans Thursday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that also disclosed he now owns a 5 percent stake in Yahoo. If he overthrows the board, Icahn said he will publicly offer to sell Yahoo to Microsoft in a "friendly and cooperative" deal.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
Toyota's Toyoda scolds execs for emulating U.S. car companies' mistakes
Money Makeover: Financial makeover: A "go-getter" goes after her spending habit
Do your homework before buying brokered CDs
Mutual-fund deposits shift into low gear

Tribal Fireworks Rivalry
The Fourth of July marks a long-standing fireworks rivalry between two clans of a Native-American family in Suquamish.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
shopping

events for Sunday, Jul. 5th
- Nordstrom Men's Half-Yearly Sale
- Karan Dannenberg Clothier Progressive...
- Kuhlman Summer Sale
- Seattle Premium Outlets July 4th Summ...
editors' picks
More shopping guides- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Palin takes to Web for hints of political future
- Fourth of July festivals and fireworks in Seattle, the suburbs and beyond
- Former NFL MVP McNair killed
- Russell Branyan, Mariners fight off the Red Sox
- The Blotter | Man pistol-whipped after argument at nightclub
- Desert-lobster dispute turns pair into sagebrush heroes
- Close-up | Prison guards intercept carrier pigeon with a cellphone
- Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
- Rob Johnson's double in 11th powers Mariners past Red Sox, 7-6
- Palin resigning as Alaska governor
756 - Seattle Mariners at Boston Red Sox: 07/04 game thread
244 - Reports: NKorean missile arrives at launch site
100 - Woman accuses Sounders FC player Nate Jaqua of sexual assault, seeks more than $10 million
99 - Palin's Declaration of Independence
73 - Hatred for the NBA runs deep, but don't take it out on the players
62 - Mariners score unlikely win over Red Sox in battle of bullpens
58 - Former NFL MVP McNair killed
56 - Man pistol-whipped after argument at nightclub
41 - Plasma and LED beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
28
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Merchant Marine veterans fight for recognition
- Close-up | Prison guards intercept carrier pigeon with a cellphone
- Concert Review | Green Day blasts off 4th weekend with KeyArena show
- Lake Washington's sockeye run may hit a record low
- Pre-grill drill: marinate steaks
- Yakima teacher reprimanded for sending 5-year-old student home with bag of feces in backpack
- Art and conversation flow from hands and heart of artist Mandy Greer
- Fire danger already here in parched NW forests
- Amtrak cleared for 2nd daily train to Vancouver, B.C.
