Carl Icahn, the activist billionaire investor who made such a noisy fuss in his quest to force management and other changes at Yahoo, is taking a much quieter leave from the Internet giant’s board.

He said “there was not a need at this time for an activist investor” on Yahoo’s board.

That’s true, of course, but here’s BoomTown’s quickie analysis: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz completely ignores him.

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A few weeks ago, when I was having breakfast with legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur Marc Andreessen about his new venture fund, he talked about what he thought was critical to being successful as an Internet company.

Ticking off names, from Apple CEO Steve Jobs to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Andreessen said he always favored technical entrepreneurs for one key reason: “You need someone who lives and breathes product.”

It’s a refrain I have heard a lot recently from a wide range of people in the sector, most especially when talking about two of the more challenging renovations of key Internet brands going on of late.

That would be: Yahoo and MySpace.

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In a move that many in the Silicon Valley chattering classes were certainly wondering about, former Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner has been named CEO of LinkedIn, the largest social network focused on professionals.

Weiner, 39, who has been the president of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company since late last year, will also join the board of directors.

Current CEO, Chairman and founder Reid Hoffman will become executive chairman and will continue to work on a daily basis at LinkedIn. He said the move was not part of preparations for an initial public offering but because Weiner had already been handling the duties of CEO for some time.

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Huffington Post co-founder and blogging diva Arianna Huffington was in Berkeley this past weekend keynoting at the Craigslist Foundation Boot Camp 2009.

So, BoomTown took the opportunity to motor over the Bay Bridge to catch Huffington on video between sessions about all the big changes at the news Web site of late, including a new CEO and local New York site.

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This week’s viral video is for filmmaker Michael Moore’s latest, which takes direct aim at the banking bailout.

Called “Save Our CEOs,” the teaser notes: “This time it’s personal.”

Well, Moore is always personal, so slapping around Wall Street and the politicians responsible for the econalypse should be interesting, to say the least.

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San Jose Mercury News columnist Chris O’Brien made a lot of humorous hay at the expense of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz yesterday, in a joke piece called: “Bartz Unveils New &*%! Strategy for Yahoo.”

O’Brien cleverly created a fictional transcript of a Yahoo staff meeting where Bartz–by now, well-known for her salty language–lets loose in an address about just how sick she was of competitors getting all the good press: “So we’re re-branding the company around excessive use of profanity. Our new marketing slogan will be, ‘Yahoo, (expletive) yeah!’”

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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John Battelle, the founder, chairman and CEO of Federated Media Publishing, told his staff this morning that he will begin a search for a new top exec to take the company into its next stage of growth.

In a post on the FM Web site, Battelle said that he was not leaving the San Francisco-based company and wrote that the new exec–whose title could be CEO–would report to him.

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MySpace has officially announced the appointment of entrepreneur and former AOL exec Mike Jones as COO, as BoomTown had reported earlier today.

But the social-networking site also named former Sling Media top exec Jason Hirschhorn as chief product officer in what has become a series of senior management moves at MySpace.

Both Hirschhorn and Jones will report to newly named CEO Owen Van Natta, the former COO of Facebook, who replaced MySpace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe last week.

Once the trio get their bearings, many sources indicate that News Corp., owner of MySpace, has given Van Natta and his key execs free reign to remake the unit from top to bottom.

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New MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta starts his first day on the job at MySpace bright and early this morning, coming to its Beverly Hills HQ as he takes over for co-founder and former CEO Chris DeWolfe.

Along with him will also be a new COO, former AOL exec Mike Jones, whose appointment will be announced this morning, sources said.

Jones was the founder of Userplane, a social-networking application maker that was bought by then-AOL head Jon Miller in 2006. Miller is now the digital chief at News Corp., which owns MySpace.

With a strong product and technology background, Jones is an excellent choice to be a partner to Van Natta–who was hired by Miller last week in a flurry of change at the social-networking site.

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Former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta has finally been officially named as CEO of MySpace, as BoomTown reported yesterday and News Corp. announced this morning.

He will replace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who stepped down from the job earlier this week. DeWolfe will remain a strategic adviser at MySpace.

Here’s the full press release.

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Former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta will be named CEO of MySpace as early as tomorrow said sources close to the situation.

He will replace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who stepped down from the job yesterday. DeWolfe will remain a strategic adviser at MySpace.

No other top execs at the huge social-networking site will be named yet, as some have reported.

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Finally, Owen Van Natta is about to win out over a founder.

The former Facebook COO is poised to become the CEO of MySpace, replacing co-founder and current CEO Chris DeWolfe.

DeWolfe will likely get a title as a special adviser to MySpace in a deal that is still coming together.

But the die seems cast for Van Natta to take over the thorny job of rehauling MySpace, which is owned by News Corp.

It’s familiar territory for him.

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Another Goog-Bye.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, president of Google’s Asia-Pacific and Latin American operations, is leaving the company and joining Silicon Valley venture firm Accel Partners as a CEO-in-residence.

Cassidy, 39, is one of the search giant’s more visible execs and one of its higher-ranking women leaders and also the second top Google exec to depart the company recently.

While exec exodus from Google is much noticed, the moves are probably not surprising given that the powerful company–as it matures–has limited avenues for its typically ambitious managers.

“I was at the end of my streak [at Google] and ready to take the next step and run or grow my own company,” Cassidy said in an interview with BoomTown late tonight. “It is key for me to be stepping out and spreading my wings now.”

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Misguided managers, Luddite corporate raiders, a thuggish hostile takeover from a software giant, a revolving door of employees, a dash of Internet moolah and a tough-talking lady CEO to the rescue! Also some Googzilla action thrown in for good measure.

Of course, it has all the elements of a good story for Vanity Fair magazine!

Actually, Yahoo has all the elements of a good Mexican telenovela, but it’s only a magazine article that is apparently in the cards to chronicle the stumbles and bumbles of the Internet giant.

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In a back-to-the-future move, former Netscape CFO Peter Currie will be the key adviser to Facebook about financial matters, until a new CFO is found, sources said.

The temporary move puts a well-known and well-liked Silicon Valley figure in place at the social-networking company at what is surely a tumultuous moment. Currie has most recently been a venture investor.

Today, Facebook parted ways with its CFO, Gideon Yu, saying it was prepping for an eventual IPO. But other sources said the departure was due to increasing tension with Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Perhaps most interestingly, Currie is close with Facebook board member and Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen.

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