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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The Dark Horse Race for Yahoo’s CEO: Sarin Emerges, but Who Else Fits the Bill?

Earlier this week, in a piece about Yahoo layoffs, BoomTown reiterated the notion that Yahoo would pick its next CEO to replace its current leader Jerry Yang from its own board or some dark horse CEO, rather than one of the Web’s more high-profile players.

The Wall Street Journal raised such a name in a piece today–former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin.

It’s an intriguing idea, to be sure, since Sarin meets the list of six key criteria the board has created, including having public company CEO experience.

But there are other dark horses who fit that bill.

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Friday, November 28, 2008

As Carl Icahn Buys More Yahoo Shares, Is It the Sign That a CEO Choice Is Near?

When everyone else has been selling, it seems Carl Icahn has decided to throw good money after bad–as in nearly $1 billion bad–by buying almost seven million more Yahoo shares, according to a regulatory filing.

Why is he doing it? BoomTown is guessing that the billionaire investor thinks he can recoup some of his massive losses in Yahoo, as Jerry Yang prepares to step down and the board, on which Icahn sits, names a new leader.

That’s why my guess is that the choice of a new CEO is likely to be sooner than later, much more Icahn-friendly and strong on operational skills.

BoomTown’s new guesses: Yahoo board member John Chapple or perhaps an ops star like HP’s Todd Bradley.

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About Kara

Kara Swisher started covering digital issues for The Wall Street Journal's San Francisco bureau in 1997 and also wrote the BoomTown column about the sector. With Walt Mossberg, she co-produces and co-hosts D: All Things Digital, a major high-tech and media conference.

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Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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