Yahoo! chairman steps down in boardroom clear-out
Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock is stepping down. Photo: AP
YAHOO! chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors are to step down in a boardroom clear-out as the embattled US internet company attempts to win back investor support.
The upheaval comes amid a strategic impasse at the group and follows the departure just a month ago of founder Jerry Yang.
He quit as a director shortly after the appointment of new chief executive Scott Thompson, the president of online payments service PayPal, who is joining after the acrimonious departure last year of his predecessor Carol Bartz.
Mr Bostock announced the latest shake-up on Tuesday night in a letter to shareholders that has raised fresh questions over the progress of Yahoo!’s talks to sell its large majority stakes in China’s Alibaba Group and Yahoo! Japan.
Mr Bostock said that he and fellow board members Vyomesh Joshi, Gary Wilson and Arthur Kern will not stand for re-election at the next shareholders’ meeting.
He said Yahoo! was appointing two new directors, former Ebay chief operating officer Maynard Webb and Alfred Amoroso, previously the boss at Rovi Corporation.
Yahoo!’s board has come under fire from investors impatient with the company’s persistent inability to effect a turnaround, and frustrated with the apparent indecisiveness of stakeholders over how to handle its investments in Alibaba and other prized Asian assets.
- Alistair Osborne
