have felt then." He added, "I don't feel good about what's happening in China today." When questioned on this topic in a Q & A discussion with Peter Bazalgette at The Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention in 2005, his response was "We have to abide by the laws in the countries in which we operate." Interest in buying Google After joining Yahoo, company founders Jerry Yang and David Filo suggested he look at buying Google, whose founders looked up to Yahoo's founders. Semel had dinner with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, asking them what their business was with Yahoo paying only $7 million annually as its biggest licensor of Google search technology. So Semel proposed to buy Google. They replied that they wanted $1 billion and didn't want to sell. Semel said he'd think about the price. After another dinner Semel agreed to the $1 billion. Page and Brin replied that they wanted $3 billion and didn't want to sell. Lost chance to take over Facebook Semel was given the mandate by Yahoo Board to buy Facebook for up to 1.2 billion dollars, Mark Zuckerberg having asked a price of one billion dollars. He tried to make it nonetheless for $850,000,000, and Zuckerberg stopped the negotiating process. Resignation Semel resigned as CEO due in part to pressure from shareholders' dissatisfaction over his compensation (in 2006, salary $1, stock options worth $70 million) and performance. Semel ended his six-year tenure as chief executive officer Monday, June 18, 2007, and handed over the reins to co-founder Jerry Yang in the Internet icon's latest attempt to regain investor confidence. At age 64, Semel remained chairman in a non-executive role. Besides naming Yang as its new CEO, Yahoo appointed Susan Decker as its president. Having recently been promoted to oversee Yahoo's advertising operations, Decker had widely been regarded as Semel's heir apparent . He later resigned from his post as non-executive chairman from Yahoo completely on January 31, 2008. Other activities Semel is currently co-chair of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) In 1995, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2005, he was given the UCLA Medal, that University's highest honor, and the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management. Personal In 1966, he married Maryann Soloway; they divorced in 1974.