The man who helped form what was once an unstoppable online powerhouse is now stepping away from any semblance of relationship with the company.
Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has left his position as a member of the board of directors. The move was confirmed by Yahoo in a statement.
He becomes the latest casualty in a company that has struggled to redefine itself in a world so dominated by Google and other forward-thinking creative giants.
Yahoo has a seriously rough road ahead. The company has made a strong push in the mobile sector, which worked to its advantage for a time. But that’s an extremely volatile section of the market right now, and sideline players are constantly jumping from the spotlight to the background. Yahoo’s mobile presence has thus become rather muted.
Some segments of the company remain strong, such as its e-commerce business for online startups, and its Flickr photo sharing service. That’s not nearly enough to keep a giant company like Yahoo afloat, though.
Yang was criticized and blamed for some of Yahoo’s troubles, as he failed to react to radical changes in the online market and allowed his brand to become stale and irrelevant – something that we have seen over the years is almost impossible to fully recover from.
Yahoo is of course not alone. Other former giants like Research in Motion and Nokia also had a “too big to fail” mentality only to become shadows of their former selves.
Former Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was ousted from her position less than a year ago. The company continues to find its voice in today’s vastly changing environment.
