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Updated Thursday, February 9, 2012 0:06 am TWN, By Michael Liedtke , AP

Chairman of Yahoo, three others resign in boardroom shake-up

In this Jan. 29, 2004 file photo, Roy Bostock, chairman of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, speaks during a news conference in New York.

(AP)

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Chairman of Yahoo, three others resign in boardroom shake-up

SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and three longtime board members are stepping down, submitting to the demands of many frustrated shareholders who blame them for contributing to the follies that have dragged down the Internet company's revenue and stock price.

The shake-up announced Tuesday continues a drastic makeover of Yahoo's leadership during the past month as the company negotiates to sell its Asian assets in a complex deal that could help ignite a long-promised turnaround.

After Yahoo hired former PayPal executive Scott Thompson as its CEO a few days into the new year, co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from the board and severed all other ties with the company that he helped start in 1995.

Now Bostock is departing after four years as chairman. Many shareholders still blame him and Yang for squandering an opportunity to sell Yahoo to Microsoft Corp. in May 2008 for US$47.5 billion, or US$33 per share. Yahoo's stock hasn't traded above US$20 in nearly 3 1/2 years. The shares closed Tuesday at US$15.83, up by a penny, then added another 9 cents in extended trading.

Bostock, a former advertising executive, more recently has been attacked for not moving more aggressively to fix the problems that have caused Yahoo to sink into a deeper financial rut while the fortunes of two major rivals, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., have soared.

“It was time for him to leave the scene,” said B. Riley & Co. analyst Sameet Sinha.

In a move that will give Thompson an even cleaner slate as he tries to come up with a new strategy, Yahoo board members Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern and Gary Wilson also agreed not to seek re-election at Yahoo's shareholders meeting this June.

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