BoomTown might have been remiss in my post yesterday on top candidates for the Yahoo CEO job, in the wake of news that Jerry Yang was stepping down, by leaving out several key possibilities.

Yesterday’s roster included News Corp.’s Peter Chernin, Google’s Tim Armstrong, Kevin Johnson of Juniper Networks and also two Yahoo board members, among others.

So here is an addendum to my initial list–all of whom are Yahoo outsiders, the likely choice versus more tarnished insiders.

Read More »

Obviously, the dream CEO for Yahoo is News Corp. President and COO Peter Chernin.

And, no surprise, he is the No. 1 choice of most inside and outside Yahoo in the wake of the news late yesterday that its current CEO and Co-Founder Jerry Yang is stepping down.

Well, Yahoo would certainly be a challenge for Chernin, in terms of a corporate cleanup challenge, especially compared to figuring out how to make bank on plush toys from “The Simpsons.”

But there are many other contenders for the job, despite the slog it could be. Here’s BoomTown’s list…

Read More »

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down from his job as CEO, said sources close to the company, as soon as the board finds a replacement for him, in what sources close to the situation call a joint decision by him and the directors.

Yahoo will announce the move later today. [UPDATED: Yahoo has since confirmed the move.]

Yahoo has hired Heidrick & Struggles, the well-known executive search firm, to vet candidates, both internally and externally, to take over the top spot at the troubled Internet giant.

Sources said it is unlikely current Yahoo President Sue Decker will get the job, which is more likely to go to an outsider.

Some BoomTown choices: News Corp. COO Peter Chernin, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman or former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig.

Read More »

In advance of tomorrow’s elections, here’s a pair of videos of the two presidential candidates, Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, talking about tech.

While Obama has many more supporters in the tech and Internet sectors in terms of overall numbers, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, McCain’s tech fans include Cisco CEO John Chambers, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former H-P head Carly Fiorina.

Read More »

Today, a panoply of prominent tech and Internet leaders is taking a very public stand against a controversial initiative before California voters, which would eliminate the current legal right of same-sex couples to marry.

Silicon Valley has had a long history of supporting gay rights. And recently, Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin has made a strong statement opposing Proposition 8, while Apple gave $100,000 to the help defeat it.

Read More »

Here’s an interesting video from The Vote Hour, which is trying to get CEOs to let employees take off an hour from work to vote.

But while the group is independent and bipartisan, it is also an effort that started at Google.

The video includes the search giant’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, along with a panoply of well-known execs, including a lot from tech.

Also included, apparently for comic relief, is real estate mogul Donald Trump.

Read More »

Today, Google, the Internet’s juggernaut in both power and profits, will release its third-quarter earnings after the markets close.

Investors and Silicon Valley will be closely watching Google’s performance and also be listening carefully to the guidance its executives will be giving, hoping the Web’s most stellar performer of late does not stumble.

If it does, some think it is look-out-below time. And, if it does not, it will presumably be all sunshine and daisies for the sector.

Neither is exactly true.

Read More »

As has been copiously reported here and all over, Yahoo and AOL have been engaged in never-ending talks about a possible deal to merge their flagging Internet businesses.

Now, sources tell me, the circle of executives at both companies interfacing with each other has been widened, for purposes of due diligence.

That includes Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, who is in New York this week–where AOL parent, Time Warner, is located–to meet once again with its CEO, Jeff Bewkes, to see if they can actually complete the merger.

Now, all this frantic activity does not mean a deal will necessarily be struck.

But it is just this kind of ramped-up blabbery that has many at both companies predicting that a deal will go through, sooner or later, as soon as Time Warner and Yahoo can agree on a price.

Read More »

Just as there is a tendency to inanely cheerlead the tech sector valuations on the way up, there is inevitably the equally ridiculous overreaction to the downward slide going on right now for digital companies.

Thus, while by no means the weakest sector of the economy, a range of tech stocks got hammered today in the markets, getting dragged down with the market at large as investors continued to fret about a sustained worldwide recession that government bailouts could not prevent.

Read More »

While rumors of its impending re-sale have apparently been greatly exaggerated, what’s true about StumbleUpon is that its new Web-centric look and feel and a new partnering program represent a major shift for the online discovery service.

The San Francisco-based company, which was founded in 2001 and sold to eBay last year for $75 million, is announcing tonight that users will no longer have to register or download its toolbar to “stumble” the Web.

The move is being made because most Internet users are increasingly loath to install Web plug-ins, a requirement that naturally has slowed the growth of StumbleUpon’s service.

Read More »

With the economic situation obviously worsening–don’t say you weren’t warned–BoomTown has no doubt now that Internet companies are in the midst of reevaluating their troop numbers to streamline themselves for the coming few months of financial winter.

That’s why, according to several sources at Yahoo, for example, top execs are telling some employees that the company is considering options to get itself sized right for an expected slowdown in the advertising market.

Why now? Well, it is critically important that Yahoo give Wall Street a solid performance when it reports third-quarter earnings on Oct. 21, for the period ending Sept. 30.

Read More »

Yahoo will begin testing out versions of its new main homepage to a minuscule number of users starting tomorrow, employing a design that more significantly allows users to customize the starting page in a way that essentially amounts to a kind of My Yahoo-lite for everyone.

Making such a shift will also be a big perceptual deal for Yahoo, which needs to prove it has remained current and open, especially compared to faster-growing rivals like Facebook.

Thus, making a success of its new design is critical, and Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang has been touting the idea that Yahoo must be the “starting point” to the Web for users.

Read More »

Of course, the layoffs at Hewlett-Packard were expected, part its cost-cutting integration after the $13.25 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems Corp.

HP said yesterday that the 24,600 jobs the tech giant axed, or 7.5 percent of the total work force, were made to “streamline the combined company’s services” businesses.

But BoomTown has to wonder if other big tech and Internet companies might be looking at HP’s move and the current economic mess and wondering if it might be a good time to pare down a bit themselves, after a spate of overhiring.

Read More »

It is absolutely worrisome that Yahoo’s share price continued its downward swirl today, closing at a five-year low today at $17.75.

The downward drift far from the it-can’t-drop-below-$20 barrier makes it clear that Wall Street is valuing the company at close to what it could sell its assets off for and not much more and this obviously puts additional pressure on the already squashed-down Yahoo management to perform.

In fact, with all this pressure, you’d think Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang would have turned into a twin of the cursed Hope Diamond by now.

Read More »

BoomTown was all busy trying to think of execs to replace Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, as pressure mounts on him to right the troubled Internet company.

But now, Yang’s position feels safer than ever and it’s his nemesis–Microsoft–that needs a new leader for its long-stumbling online services business.

Microsoft is already been cracking, according to sources, with a wish list of internal and external candidates that CEO Steve Ballmer is now considering.

Read More »