Two top execs leave Yahoo

Cory Bergman December 5th, 2006

In a major shakeup, Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig and media chief Lloyd Braun are leaving the company. CFO Susan Decker will now oversee revenue generation, including ad sales. Yahoo has fallen further behind Google in search advertising, and its stock has dropped steadily over the past few months. And recently, Yahoo SVP Brad Garlinghouse sent out a memo, which was picked up in the Wall Street Journal, that detailed how the company lacked “a focused, cohesive vision.” Dubbed “The Peanut Butter Manifesto,” it described how Yahoo “lacked decisiveness” in trying to spread itself too thin across too many products and initiatives. Says CEO Terry Semel today in a blog post, “Simply put, we’re aligning our business around two key customer groups — our audience and our advertisers and publishers — supported by innovative technology.”