Yahoo! Inc., has named former Warner Bros. executive Terry Semel to replace Tim Koogle as chairman and CEO effective May 1.
Koogle will be named vice chairman, a position he is expected to retain until August, and will continue after that on Yahoo!’s board of directors, the company said today.
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| Terry Semel, Yahoo!’s new CEO |
The news comes as Yahoo struggles to cope with the downturn in the economy and a huge drop in Internet advertising. Earlier this month, Yahoo posted its second straight net loss, $11.5 million in the first quarter compared with a profit of $67.6 million in the comparable period of 2000, and said it is cutting 12% of its work force.
Yahoo’s stock price has also suffered, with shares closing Monday at $17.62 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, well off the company’s 52-week high of $150.
Semel served as co-chief executive of AOL Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. unit from 1994 until he left in 1999 after several years of expensive box-office flops, according to news reports. After leaving Warner Bros., Semel founded Windsor Media Inc., an investment company.
Jordan Rohan, an analyst at Wit SoundView, was quoted in a news report. What is “surprising is the choice of somebody who is ingrained in old media for so long,” Rohan said. “It does suggest a different direction for Yahoo, one where they create content.” Wit SoundView has a “hold” rating on Yahoo shares.
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