Yahoo Inc’s management ranks are rapidly thinning as the Internet pioneer fends off a shareholder mutiny that is threatening to culminate in the firing of chief executive Jerry Yang (楊致遠).
Three more executives have decided to leave the Internet company, reports published on Thursday by two blogs — Techcrunch and AllThingsD — the New York Times said. The reports were based on unnamed people with knowledge of the departures.
DEFECTORS
The latest defectors reportedly are Qi Lu, an executive vice president in charge of Yahoo’s search and advertising technology; Brad Garlinghouse, a senior vice president who oversees communication tools like mail; and Vish Makhijani, a senior vice president involved in search, the reports said.
Garlinghouse is the best known of the trio.
In 2006, he wrote a scathing memo arguing that Yahoo had gone awry and needed a major housecleaning. The so-called “manifesto” caused a stir when it was leaked to the Wall Street Journal.
CONFIDENCE
Yahoo declined to confirm the departures on Thursday, but issued a statement expressing its confidence in “a deep and talented management team.”
“Yahoo continues to be a leader in our industry and remains a unique, exciting and important place to work even as we experience the attrition that’s to be expected in the Internet industry,” the company said.
The Sunnyvale-based company already lost four prominent leaders in the past week: two executive vice presidents, Jeff Weiner and Usama Fayyad; and the creators of Yahoo’s Flickr photo sharing service, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake.
CHALLENGE
The exodus could worsen Yahoo’s instability as Yang and his remaining lieutenants scramble to regain their bearings after spending five months grappling with an unwelcome takeover bid from Microsoft Corp.
Citing unnamed people close to the company, the New York Times reported Yahoo probably will announce a reorganization aimed at easing shareholder concerns about a leadership void as top executives head for the exits.
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