Allen Weiner

In one of the more anticlimactic business moves in the brief history of the web, Yahoo! CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang announced he will step down once a replacement is found for the top spot at the iconic portal. For many, this will be a milestone in the drama that has surrounded Yahoo! in its attempt to define a viable future, one most believe will result in a partnership or acquisition. Yang, who describes himself as Chief Yahoo, got to the point in his career where he realized the company needs someone with turnaround business savvy and experience in rebuilding a brand and forging alliances.

Let’s be clear on one thing—very little of Yahoo’s current problems are Yang’s fault. If fingers are to be pointed, I think they should look in the direction of Terry Semel, the CEO whose background with Warner Bros. was supposed to turn Yahoo! into an entrainment and media company. This is not to say key technologies that would have made Yahoo! competitive in the search business were totally overlooked, they were just not a priority. The infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto” that spoke to Yahoo!’s inability to prioritize, is the perfect touchstone to Yahoo’s decline. And even though Semel tried to surround himself with smart tech sorts, that lack of native engineering experience at a crucial time in the company’s existence gave Google a window of opportunity to turn search into the center of the consumer experience and pull away from the pack. Under Semel’s rule, Yahoo! missed opportunities in such key social areas as blogging while pouring money into a TV effort that wound up going dark.

Keep in mind Yang never saw himself as the sort of leader to take Yahoo to greatness. It was under CEO Tim Koogle, a homespun sort that was the ultimate left-brain, right-brain leader, that Yahoo first rose to international prominence in the mid-‘90s. He was the “adult” who came in to supervise the kids much as Eric Schmidt did when he brought order to Google’s chaos under Serge and Larry.

What now? For those who think a new CEO will magically result in a Microsoft acquisition, a look at the stock price for both companies should dispel that notion, at least until the global economic order is restored. If Yahoo! is smart, and I think they are, they will be on the hunt for two different sorts of leaders. On one hand, there are young turks like Jason Kilar, ex of Amazon, now head of Hulu, who take lessons learned from the tech-business wars. Perhaps there are emerging stars at Amazon, Google, Apple and other successful companies whose names will be in play. On the other hand, one has to consider turnaround specialists who excel in taking once-powerful brands and reigniting/reinventing them to thrive yet again.

Last I heard, Tim Koogle was selling luxury real estate in Mexico. Anyone have his number?