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"Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, has stepped down from the struggling company&amp;#039;s board after 16 years. Yang acted as chief executive of Yahoo between June 2007 and January 2009, taking the contentious decision to reject a $44.6bn (\u00A329.1bn) takeover offer from Microsoft in February 2008. The offer was a 50% premium on Yahoo&amp;#039;s share price at the time, but Yang bet that the company would grow to an internet giant worth considerably more than Microsoft&amp;#039;s offer.   That proved incorrect, as Yahoo lost further ground in the internet search market to Google, as well as saw its online ad revenues dwindle due to emerging rivals such as Twitter and Facebook.  Yang&amp;#039;s resignation from the Yahoo board was widely expected after the company appointed former PayPal president Scott Thompson as its chief executive on January 4, replacing Carol Bartz, who was fired last September. Alongside quitting the board of the company he co-founded in 1995 with David Filo, Yang has also resigned from the boards of Yahoo Japan Corporation and Alibaba Group Holding Limited, the Chinese internet giant of which Yahoo owns a 43% stake. In a letter announcing his resignation to the Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, Yang wrote: &amp;quot;My time at Yahoo, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo. &amp;quot;As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as chief executive officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo leadership team, to guide Yahoo into an exciting and successful future.&amp;quot; In a statement, Bostock described Yang as a &amp;quot;visionary and a pioneer&amp;quot;, but insisted that Yahoo&amp;#039;s future is &amp;quot;bright&amp;quot; without his input to the board. &amp;quot;It has been a pleasure to work with Jerry. His unique strategic insights have been invaluable. He has always remained focused on the best interests of Yahoo&amp;#039;s stakeholders, including shareholders, employees and more than 700 million users,&amp;quot; said Bostock. &amp;quot;And while I and the entire board respect his decision, we will miss his remarkable perspective, vision and wise counsel. On behalf of the board, we thank Jerry and wish him all the very best in his future endeavours.&amp;quot; He added: &amp;quot;We appreciate Jerry&amp;#039;s comments and share his enthusiasm for the company&amp;#039;s prospects. With Scott Thompson leading an outstanding team of Yahoos to deliver innovative products and an engaging customer experience, Yahoo&amp;#039;s future is bright.&amp;quot; Some analysts have claimed that Bostock, who chaired the Yahoo board during the Microsoft bid, will also soon step down as Thompson looks to restructure the board.  Reacting to Yang&amp;#039;s departure, Gabelli &amp;amp; Co Brett Harriss told The Guardian: &amp;quot;This is clearly a positive. Yang has been viewed as a roadblock to a deal or even a restructuring. &amp;quot;Hopefully it leads to new blood on the board. It provides a more objective and unemotional approach to strategic alternatives. It&amp;#039;s also good for the new CEO. He has one less entrenched legacy board member to resist his vision.&amp;quot; In a statement, Thompson paid tribute to Yang for his &amp;quot;warm welcome and support&amp;quot;. He said: &amp;quot;Jerry leaves behind a legacy of innovation and customer focus for this iconic brand, having shaped our culture by fostering a spirit of innovation that began 17 years ago and continues to grow even stronger today. &amp;quot;Jerry has great confidence in the future of Yahoo, and I share his confidence in the enormous potential of Yahoo in the days ahead.&amp;quot; It is unclear what Yang will do next, but SEC filings reveal that he still holds around 47m Yahoo shares, which at the firm&amp;#039;s current price would be worth about $725m. There was some speculation last year that he was "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/internet/news/a360704/yahoo-co-founder-jerry-yang-resigns-from-board/>