Yahoo's Co-Founder, Jerry Yang, Resigns

Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that Yahoo's co-founder, Jerry Yang has resigned from Yahoo effective immediately.

Yang told the Yahoo board:

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.

This comes a couple weeks after Yahoo hired a new CEO, Scott Thompson. Yang took over as CEO of Yahoo in 2007 and then a year later was ousted from that position.

In any event, it is sad to see an internet legend leave the company he helped co-found. Yahoo was a great company and in the past several years have not found their way. Will Yang stepping down help Yahoo find their way - I don't think so but maybe it will give it a clear headspace?

Google's Bradley Horowitz, former Yahoo employee, but now head of Google+, said onGoogle+ a very passionate thing about Yang:

Wow. I didn't expect this, and wouldn't have expected this news to matter to me... but it does.

I worked at Yahoo for four years, and had an amazing, life-changing experience. Much of this was due to Jerry's support and enthusiasm for what I was trying to get done. Most of the projects under my purview (Flickr, Brickhouse, Yahoo Research Berkeley, Hack Days, etc.) flew against the grain of "Yahoo as Usual", and would have failed without Jerry's explicit endorsement. That he not only allowed me to do this, but encouraged me to (and funded the efforts) is something I deeply appreciate.

Best wishes to whatever is next for you Jerry. Thank you for giving me a chance to be part of Yahoo's history.

Thanks for sharing this Bradley! Best wishes to Jerry Yang for helping to build the internet as we know it.

Forum discussion at Google+ & WebmasterWorld.