Could Terry Semel bring Yahoo back into the black?

The Economist has this query: Is Terry Semel the right man to lead Yahoo! against its nimbler rival?

The report continued:

JERRY YANG, who co-founded Yahoo! and remains on its board, says that the internet company is in the middle of a "transformation" and that its board members are "all in lockstep" behind Terry Semel, the chairman and chief executive. Meg Whitman, the boss of eBay, a Silicon Valley neighbour as well as an advertising partner to Yahoo!, says that Semel has done "a spectacular job" and is "well loved at Yahoo!". Clearly, Semel has a lot of impressive supporters.

Of late, however, Semel has been taken aback by the astonishing rise of Google, which today dominates the market for web-search and keyword-related advertising, having left Yahoo! far behind. His fate at Yahoo! now depends on whether it can catch up with its more agile rival.

For Semel, who is 64, a sale might also hold the appeal of a graceful exit. It would be a rueful one, however. Back in 2002 Semel considered buying Google, which was just then rising out of obscurity, but balked at a price in the single billions (Google's stockmarket value today is $145 billion, about 3.5 times that of Yahoo!'s). Having belatedly grasped the money-making potential of web-search, Mr Semel then bought Inktomi, another search engine, and in 2003 he bought Overture, the pioneer of paid-search advertising.

But could a new CEO alleviate the standing of Yahoo? Is Semel the right man? Posted by: noel    Source