Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Online Marketing Consultant

Yahoo announced today that Terry Semel will be stepping down as CEO:

Yahoo Inc. Chairman Terry Semel stepped down as chief executive in a surprise move Monday, ending his increasingly ineffectual pursuit of online search leader Google Inc. — a losing battle that had demoralized Yahoo’s shareholders and employees.

I couldn’t say it better myself. Semel has had one failure after another, believing that content will save Yahoo with their newly revamped mission statement earlier this year and the Panama engine redesign. I don’t mean to be harsh on the guy, as I’m sure he did many things to try and turn Yahoo around, but when you consistently lose money quarter after quarter why is he the highest compensated CEO in the country? This is another Enron in the waiting.
If Google is paying attention, now is the time to pounce on Yahoo and buy them out. I’m sure Microsoft is counting the pennies right now. If Google could purchase the content and application network that is Yahoo, which actually has a lot of great web properties (Flickr, Upcoming.org, Yahoo Answers, etc.) and the ad network, they could pretty much write Microsoft’s obituary in terms of online presence. It would definitely save Google from trying to build everything from the ground up, which I believe they are inclined to do anyway, but why make it any harder? Of course, there’s the pesky SEC that could block such a merger, but they seem to be all about huge mergers lately and I don’t think they would even bat an eye.

I guess we’ll see who the potential suitors turn out to be after Semel steps down and Yang steps up.