In a press release today, Yahoo! announced the resignation from the Board of Directors and “all other positions with the company”, effective today. Here’s Yang’s statement:
"My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future."
While the news is not entirely unexpected, it may be an indication that Yahoo! is about to bring closure to their state of affairs. The company is potentially up for sale, to a number of potential buyers, including an investment partnership thought to include Microsoft and Silver Lake Partners.
Since the December 16th posting by Reuters, we haven’t heard much about the fate of Yahoo!, which is important to Microsoft because of the 10 year Bing-Yahoo! alliance. Bing recently overtook Yahoo! in US Search market share, but hasn’t as yet made a significant dent in the market share of its number one rival, Google.
While we’re not sure what the future of the Bing-Yahoo! alliance will be, or what today’s announcements will mean, we’re certainly one step closer to having a resolution, for now, to the Yahoo! situation.