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Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang steps down as CEO

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, who earned the ire of many share-holders for rejecting a 47-billion-dollar takeover offer from Microsoft, is stepping down as chief executive of the Internet company.The Sunnyvale, California firm announced on Monday that Yang, 40, who took over as chief executive just over a year ago, would remain in the post until a replacement could be found by the board of directors.

“Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level,” Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said.

“We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo as a key executive and member of the Board,” he added in a statement.

Yahoo said Yang , who founded the popular Web portal in 1995 at the age of 26 with Stanford University classmate David Filo and became a billionaire when it went public the next year, would remain in a strategic role at the company.

Yang said it was time to turn Yahoo, whose share price has plunged during the past year, over to a new leader.

“From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensable to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise,” Yang said in a statement.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081118/ts_afp/usitinternetyahoo_081118072501