Yahoo CEO Countdown, 26 Days to Go: As Chernin Declines, Will a Dark Horse Emerge?
by Kara Swisher
Posted on December 5, 2008 at 7:24 AM PT
[UPDATED: H-P exec Todd Bradley has been a public company CEO, which I reflected below correctly.]
With Yahoo board Chairman Roy Bostock reportedly assuring investors and others that the company will have a CEO in place by the end of the year, it seems prudent for BoomTown to initiate an official Yahoo CEO Countdown.
After all, this column had a 100-Day No-Sacred-Cows Vision Quest to mark the time that Jerry Yang said he needed to give Yahoo a top-to-bottom look-see when he took over last summer as CEO.
Yang announced he was stepping down on Nov. 17, prompting the search for someone to lead Yahoo (YHOO) to the promised land where BoomTown countdowns are illegal.
But that’s not today, so here’s the 26-days-to-go update:
It looks like Yahoo has almost no chance to nab a top candidate, News Corp. (NWS) COO Peter Chernin. While Yang made nice and Bostock quickly lobbed in a call to get the well-known exec to come in and talk, several sources said Chernin declined even that.
Of course, moguls like Chernin are pros at not interviewing–one media player schooled me that you apparently never show interest in a job and only take it if a full offer is made, because if you don’t get it after chit-chatting, you look like a loser.
But I don’t think it is a slick feint on his part, even though Chernin is now engaged in contract renewal negotiations at News Corp. (which owns this Web site).
Consider: If you were Chernin, would you want to trade your powerful, well-paid, glamorous job in Hollywood and New York for what will surely be a slog of a job in Sunnyvale, and in a cubicle?
And Chernin has told many he is not interested in doing the job, although News Corp. would still love to do some sort of deal to combine its online assets, like MySpace, with Yahoo’s, as it almost did many times.
While Chernin did just take delivery on a Tesla, showing some clear geekiness, and he would be an exciting get for Yahoo, it’s the longest of shots.
The same is true for some other names that have been floated (by me!).
But several of the people are on the Yahoo board’s list too. And while things can change, it is more unlikely any of them will be the pick.
That includes former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig, who has a good life now as a media investor; former eBay exec and OpenTable CEO Jeff Jordan, who told his investors he does not want to be in the running and was sticking with the start-up’s IPO plans–if and when the economy recovers (although Yahoo could buy OpenTable and, thus, Jordan); former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman, who could be running for governor of California; and former AOL CEO Jon Miller, who is not secretly buying Yahoo, but who could not be its leader anyway, since he is bound by a Time Warner (TWX) noncompete agreement until the end of March.
Another sticking point: The Yahoo board has limited the pool by a list of six criteria that it has drawn up, with the No. 1 being a CEO candidate has to have public company CEO experience.
If enforced, that nixes some folks, like Google (GOOG) exec Tim Armstrong. In addition, Yahoo President Sue Decker getting the nod is even more unlikely, for that and other reasons, according to many.
From my lists, that leaves DoubleClick head David Rosenblatt (his company is now owned by Google); Demand Media’s Richard Rosenblatt; former Viacom (VIA) head Tom Freston; former CNET CEO Shelby Bonnie; Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) exec Todd Bradley; and Juniper Networks (JNPR) CEO Kevin Johnson, who was the Microsoft exec who was key in the Yahoo takeover attempt there.
All have reasons not to either want or be able to take the Yahoo CEO job, so that means there could be a dark horse candidate. (I am now drawing up yet another list of qualified public CEO tech and media execs).
Here’s one: Yesterday, after it was announced he was stepping down from Microsoft (MSFT) in the wake of its hire of former Yahoo tech star Qi Lu as its online leader, I noted that I liked Brian McAndrews for the job.
Plus, the former CEO of aQuantive, which Microsoft bought for $6 billion last year, would be a delicious irony. But those who have talked to him told me McAndrews–who did want the digital head job at Microsoft and was left hanging by the software giant’s CEO Steve Ballmer–seems intent on taking time off now.
Alternatively, one of the two Yahoo board members, Maggie Wilderotter or John Chapple, both have the public company CEO checked off.
Personally, I am betting on one of them as CEO, although I believe it would be better if Yahoo picked a fresh outside choice.
So do a lot of execs remaining at Yahoo, most of whom visibly roll their eyes at the idea of a board member taking over, considering the record of the directors so far in guiding Yahoo’s fortunes.
That’s why the board–which definitely has not distinguished itself by any criteria so far in Yahoo’s long fall from grace–should try to get it right this time, as Yahoo can’t take any more of the way it has been running the show so far.
Comments
Todd Bradley was the CEO of Palm before he left for HP. Palm was (and so far still is) a public company.
Posted by art kim at December 5th, 2008 at 11:01 amIf Yahoo acquires AOL then Jon Miller can be CEO as part of the deal. That’s the deal Yahoo’s board should be closing right now.
They can send my advisory fee to the Save Jerry’s Golf Game campaign
Posted by Sam Harrison at December 5th, 2008 at 2:18 pmp.s. the Dark Horse is Rupert Murdoch. Merge MySpace with Yahoo.
Posted by Sam Harrison at December 5th, 2008 at 3:12 pmI agree that if YHOO takes some of AOL then the non-compete clause cancellation could be included for Miller.
The next issue would be the email accounts. YHOO(A), AOL(B) and MSFT(C). I don’t think the justice department would allow A+B+C, then MSFT would only have YHOO Search. Hmmm that sounds like The Times report
Posted by Jeff Stevens at December 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pmMy money is on Carly. I hear she’s looking for work, and has experience driving companies into the ground…
Posted by Eric Peterson at December 6th, 2008 at 12:01 pmHi Kara,
I have been doing some research out of desperation for some help. I run a gaming league owned by Cases MyLeagues, which is owned by Demand Media and ultimately run by CEO Richard Rosenblatt.
During the past year we have faced horrible obstacles and can find no help. I personally have had to create over 20 Yahoo id’s becuase of Yahoo’s attempts to keep advertising bots out of the gaming chat rooms. I was in compliance with all rules. I do animal rescue on my main id, and need to be logged into that id, which in turn means I cannot be logged into my league id at the same time.
When I approached the Cases staff for help I was told that it was an issue I had to take up with Yahoo because ” if I had a problem with my television, I would not complain to Ford Motor Co.” My reply, if my tv was installed in a Ford Vehicle I certainly would. And the leagues can only function in Yahoo rooms. Being banned from the room for 13 years was not an option for me.
That issue for myself and hundreds of Cases unpaid tournament directors went unsolved.
Then I tried to find a solution to a problem with the leagues being attacked via spammers and hackers. Again, this is to no avail. No one seems to care or hear us complain. I tried to reach Mr. Rosenblatt but to the little person like myself, he is protected like Fort Knox.
If he wants to keep the leagues running and members paying for ‘Premium’ memberships shouldn’t someone care what is happening? In 2 years I have spent almost 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to build the largest English speaking Literati League on Yahoo. Do I not deserve respect and help?
Sincerely, LadyT
Posted by Theresa Barbour at February 2nd, 2009 at 4:38 pmIt was delightful to see Bill and Steve sharing a stage and reminiscing about their stuff, but I was surprised that Bill (gadgets) and Steve (widgets) didn’t settle the debate about the original inventor of the widget.
One can never have too many widgets. Somebody codes something you never even dreamed of wanting – suddenly everybody
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şiir türleriçetchatsohbet needs a whole bunch of widgets because they don’t impinge too much on the screen/template real estate.