(18 November 2008 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang will step down from his position as CEO as soon as a replacement has been appointed, the company announced on Monday.

Yang will return to his former role as chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board.

Yang, 40, who assumed the CEO role in June 2007, was criticised by many shareholders for rejecting a $47 billion takeover offer from Microsoft and other bid from Google.

Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said, “Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo! on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues. Yang and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are grateful to Yang for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo! as a key executive and member of the Board."

"When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth," he said.

"Having set Yahoo on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader," he said.

"I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation," Yang added.