Yahoo! Inc’s infamous CEO Jerry Yang resigns from his position after all the controversy and bad press. Digi Mouth tells you the whole story.

Jerry Yang has finally decided to step down as the CEO of Yahoo! Inc. And Wall Street supported the move with an 11% rise in Yahoo! shares to $11.82. After making headlines for a failed deal with Google and the rejection of the Microsoft offer Jerry Yang has been in the bad books of his investors (especially Carl Icahn).  These mega deals were one of the prime reasons for the downfall of his reign. We take you through the  birth, rise and fall of the Yang dynasty.

The Glory Days
After his graduation in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University Jerry Yang and his friend David Filo created “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. The web portal which acted as a directory of websites was later renamed Yahoo. The Yahoo! dynasty grew into a wondrous brand name offering a range of online products and services. Now, one of the most trafficked websites, Yahoo! Inc has created a niche for itself despite competition from other web entities. Today Jerry Yang is worth US$2.3 billion.

The Controversy Begins
Yang got bad press for the arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao.  Shi Tao had used his Yahoo email address to inform pro-democracy websites about Chinese government’s denial to press coverage of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. Shi Tao was arrested as Yahoo! divulged the IP addresses and information of the recipients.

Yahoo! instantly got the tag of a “Chinese police informant” for their move. Yahoo was once again in major trouble as the law issued in 1989 forbid U.S. companies to sell “crime control and detection” information, software or equipment to the Chinese Government. But Yang made up for all the damage after paying an undisclosed compensation to Chinese dissidents last year.

The Final Nail
His failed negotiations with Microsoft got him in bad books of the investors. The software giant made multiple bids to acquire Yahoo and counter the Google dominance; but in vein.  Carl Icahn (now board member) joined hands with other investors to scrutinise and protest Yang’s approach towards increasing revenues and Yahoo’s diminishing stock prices. Yang was back in news for his ad-serving deal with Google. But that deal fell apart as Google backed out in turn adding to the wounds. Yang was criticised again for not diligently pursuing the Google deal.

Though investors foresee a Microsoft offer in the near future Jerry Yang’s exit reminds us of the cruel corporate world that can make or break icons. Digi Mouth wishes Jerry Yang all the luck (which he needs) for future ventures (if he has any) and hopes to see him make a comeback (just like Steve Jobs did).

Read his departing lines on the Yahoo Blog.