Jerry Yang is no quitter – so what does he have up his sleeve?

Jan 19, 2012

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For a while, I have been keeping an eye on the hardworking and pioneering Taiwanese Jerry Yang, who successfully co-founded Yahoo. I kept on suspecting that sooner rather than later, he would pull a fast one on the market. Therefore his recent resignation as Yahoo CEO neither caught me off guard nor shocked me. For me, what raises the alarm a bit is the fact that he is also leaving the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba, substantial portions of which Yahoo owns – this man is not just cutting ties, he is almost disowning his hard earned asset once referred to a “grown up” media and advertising brand. What could be devastatingly wrong back at the ranch?

The questions that linger in my mind is: has the global market seen the last of him in this playing field; or is he playing a similar card he once played when he loaned the Yahoo reigns to Tony Semel only to take over as CEO again in 2007?

Is his resignation some kind of a tactic?
Is it a worked-out strategy since his return in 2007?
Is Yahoo now preparing the market for a complete overhaul that will not only change ownership and move into hands of new investors but will also take a complete take detour as far as brand positioning is concerned?
Is Yang getting out with the intention of leaping into a new innovative launch of a new product that requires his face to be totally dissociated with this current brand?
How does one co-create an entity only to give it up so lethargically?

Yes, his resignation has been looming since the 2008 saga when he “disastrously mishandled” the Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo. Therefore, I am not surprised that he has been playing his cards close to his chest since then. But perhaps he has been using the past 2 years to prepare himself for a momentous, more innovative move that will catapult his image and focus into new heights.

Well, who’s to know except the Stanford graduate innovator himself? In 2009, while addressing a group of student at a graduation ceremony at the University of Hawaii he sternly said:

My mother taught me the rules of perseverance. While I’ve certainly faced challenges since founding Yahoo!, they were nothing compared to what my mother faced coming to the US as a single parent from Taiwan, with two young boys and a few suitcases. I was ten at the time, and the only English word I knew was the word “shoe.” It could have been very easy to feel discouraged. But I worked hard, studied hard, and played hard along the way. Yes, good timing and some luck played a role in my starting Yahoo!, but there is just no substitute for hard work and relentless preparation”.

Now, do we really want to believe that this unwavering whiz kid has willingly and suddenly forgotten that there is “no substitute” for hard work and relentlessness?

I for one do not buy the act!

Having said that, if Yahoo as a brand has a plan to stay healthily alive, it has a lot of hard work to do in order to bring back to life an admired reputation that it has once had. Not an easy task, considering that in the past five years, it has had four CEOs (Carol Bartz was CEO for only 30 months) – what a negative impact this have in its strategic progression?
As for now, Yahoo does not have much choice but to wryly lag behind the likes of Google and Facebook; or does it?

Comments

2 responses to “Jerry Yang is no quitter – so what does he have up his sleeve?”

caswell wa ka ndlhovu

January 19, 2012

Hi, once again a good article, I just get lost in the middle, I am not sure whether it's lamenting the demise of yahoo! or insinuating that the "genius" Yang will soon come up with something, but I will tackle both:

I think yahoo! Will never go back to the great company it once was, they were caught napping by Brin and co, and the innovation around google has ensured they will be the number 1 player for a long time, at least in that space, just think, search is referred to as googling and once you define what the market does and your brand name is also defines the activity, then your dominance is guaranteed. Yahoo needs to find something else to define themselves, otherwise they will remain a has been, of course the departure of yang can be a good thing in that regard, as his continued presence has not change the fortunes of the company.

As for Yang, its difficult to assess his genius, he himself ascribes the earlier yahoo success to luck, and apart from that there is nothing else I know that he has done. I admit I have not done research on that, but if you look at the late SJ, when he was fired at apple, he went and did some other things, and was successful, that shows genius, when he went back to apple, he made it even great, today it's the most valuable tech stock. The question is whether yang can even approach a fraction of that, I think not, so I suggest he just becomes a humanitarian like bill gates and fund new start ups in Taiwan, India or Africa.

On the other hand, I will watch him with interest, he might have something up the sleeve, but chances are very minimal.

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Nomia Machebe

January 20, 2012

I agree Yahoo will not come back, however bear in mind that my opinion is influenced by my resolute loyalty to Google, so it is not objective but emotive!
As for Yang, I think it is too early to dismiss him. I have a lot of hope and faith…I think he will resurface – even if he becomes a humanitarian (we need more hearts than brains in this world) lol, actually I get a feeling he is no longer chasing money but he wants to self-actualize! At 43, he seems pretty content with the "few billions" he has achieved – he has a respected voice in his circles…so, I suspect he may just choose to spend more time behind close doors or board room, think-tank rooms, golf course as he watches the ups and downs of the stock exchange. What a life!

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Jerry Yang is no quitter – so what does he have up his sleeve?

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2 responses to “Jerry Yang is no quitter – so what does he have up his sleeve?”

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