SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang is leaving the struggling Internet company, as it tries to revive its revenue growth and win over disgruntled shareholders under a new leader.
The surprise departure, announced yesterday, comes just two weeks after Yahoo Inc. hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as chief executive.
Thompson is the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to turn around Yahoo - a challenge that Yang was unable to pull off during his own tumultuous 18-month stint as the company’s CEO in 2007 and 2008.
Yang, 43, endorsed Thompson in his resignation from Yahoo’s board of directors. He had been on Yahoo’s board since the company’s 1995 inception.
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“My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life,’’ Yang wrote in a letter to Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. “However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo.’’
The letter didn’t say what Yang plans to do next. He doesn’t need to work, thanks to the fortune he has amassed since he began working on Yahoo in a trailer at Stanford University with fellow graduate student David Filo. Yang is worth about $1.1 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s latest estimates.
Yang is also stepping down from the boards of China’s Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is negotiating to sell its stakes in both of the Asian companies as part of its efforts to placate investors. The deal could be worth as much as $17 billion, but still faces a series of potentially daunting obstacles before it gets done.
Thompson could have an easier time overhauling Yahoo without Yang looking over his shoulder and possibly second guessing his decisions, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis.
“This has the fingerprints of frustration on it,’’ Gillis said. “It’s one of those situations where it looks like he is losing the battle to control the company’s direction and now he is saying, ‘That’s it, I’m out.’ ’’
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Yang alienated shareholders by turning down a chance to sell Yahoo to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, in May 2008. Yahoo shares haven’t topped $20 for more than three years, and they rose 47 cents to $15.90 after Yang’s decision was made public yesterday.