14 DAY TRIAL // Terry Semel joined Yahoo! after having built a reputation as a successful executive with Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co. He was the one the Sunnyvale-based company turned to when times got rough and he managed to pull through. Now, it looks like he is parting ways with the Internet company for good. He formerly resigned from the CEO position in June 2007, entrusting Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker to lead the company to a bright future.
How much of that has come true is not of the essence, the recent Microsoft bid of $45 billion to take over Yahoo! has taken all the spotlight today, rendering everything else not important. Yesterday, Semel gave up his chairman seat and wished the best to his former company. "It has been an honor for me to work with Yahoo's incredibly talented people over the past seven years, and I'm proud of all that we've accomplished during that time," he said in a prepared statement.
He will be replaced by Roy Bostock, a current board member, according to the company. He has been with the company for the past 4 years and is just what the company needs, if it extends its advertising network, having had a background in this field as chairman of advertising agency BCom3 Group Inc. and CEO of D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles.
Jerry Yang endorsed Bostock's rise to the position: "Roy is an outstanding executive who has decades of experience in the advertising industry - an area that is more important than ever to Yahoo's business and our long-term success."
The above statement makes the taking over that Microsoft is trying to pull look questionable, but perhaps it is just smoke blown in people's eyes. An official comment from Yahoo! regarding the answer to the offer made by the Redmond-based company has not yet been made available.