Yahoo! Announces New CEO

The economy has been slumping and the outlook for the Internet advertising market looks extremely bleak. Yahoo!'s shares have fallen 88 percent in less than a year and rumors of a possible merger or buy-out by a major media player have run rampant. To add to the chaos at Yahoo!'s corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California, former CEO Tim Koogle announced his resignation only a few weeks ago, but decided to remain onboard until a suitable replacement was named. On the heels of Koogle's announcement came the news that the Internet juggernaut was being forced to make its first layoffs, slashing a whopping 12 percent of its current workforce in order to trim excess operating expenses.

Enter Terry Semel. Semel has experience dragging corporate giants out of the mud and getting them moving in the right direction once again. Semel and partner Bob Daly took the reins at Warner Bros. at a time when that company was struggling to survive and were able to increase worldwide annual revenue from less than $1 billion to more than $11 billion during their tenure as heads of the company. Some are reading Semel's appointment as an indication that Yahoo! is seeking to partner with one of the major media companies, such as Sony or Disney, even though Yahoo! representatives are denying that course of action. Semel is at least a breath of fresh air for Yahoo!, someone that has the ability to diversify their market presence and help the company move away from the all-but-dead Internet advertising market.