Verizon announced Monday that it will acquire Yahoo's core business for $4.8 billion. WIBBITZ
Monday marks the end of an era for beleaguered tech giant Yahoo.
Verizon confirmed it would acquire Yahoo's core business for $4.8 billion. CEO Marissa Mayer, who took over Yahoo in 2012 to help spark a turnaround, says she plans to stay with the company as it makes the move to join AOL.
Mayer is the latest top executive at Yahoo to struggle with turning around the former Silicon Valley heavyweight. Here's a history of the executives who held Yahoo's top job:
Stock price when started: $33
Stock price when left: $20.18
Highlights: Known as the “grown up” at a very young company, Koogle drove Yahoo to its peak, moving the start-up from a simple search engine to a Silicon Valley giant. When Yahoo launched its initial public offering on April 12, 1996, it closed at $33. In early 1999, Yahoo shares would surge above $400. Then came the dot-com bust. Koogle was one of several executives that would announce their exit from Yahoo in March 2001 after reporting a huge quarterly miss.
Where is he now: Koogle serves as a board member for San Francisco-based vitamins company Olly.
Stock price when started: $22.31
Stock price when left: $28.12
Highlights: The former Warner Bros. executive ran Yahoo when it made one of its most important investments in 2005 by securing a stake in Chinese company Alibaba. Since then, Alibaba has grown into an e-commerce giant. However, Semel also committed one of several massive missteps: missing a chance to acquire Google. You know, the company that would eventually trounce Yahoo in search.
Where is he now: Semel serves as Co-Chair Emeriti on the Board of Trustees for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Stock price when started: $28.12
Stock price when left: $12.10
Highlights: The co-founder of Yahoo took over the CEO role at the request of the company’s board of directors. Along with Semel, Yang helped pull together the investment in Alibaba. But Yang was widely criticized in 2008 for spurning a buyout offer from Microsoft for $44.6 billion. As of Wednesday, Yahoo boasts a market cap above $25 billion.
Where is he now: Yang serves on the board of directors for Alibaba Group and Lenovo Group. Yang also co-founded venture capital firm AME Cloud Ventures.
Stock price when started: $12.10
Stock price when left: $12.91
Highlights: The former CEO of Autodesk was brought on board to reverse Yahoo’s fortunes in the display ad market, dominated by Google and rising threat Facebook. Between failure to catch up to Facebook and Google and continuing to lag behind in mobile, social and cloud markets, Bartz was fired two-and-a-half years later, replaced on an interim basis by chief financial officer Timothy Morse. During an interview with Fortune right after her dismissal, Bartz said Yahoo “f— ed me over.”
Where is she now: Bartz remains a member of the board of directors at Cisco, a position she’s held since 1996.
Stock price when started: $15.46
Stock price when left: $15.50
Highlights: The former president of PayPal boasts the shortest tenure as Yahoo CEO. Four months into the job, activist investor Daniel Loeb exposed inaccuracies in Thompson’s resume, claiming he did not earn a computer science degree listed among his credentials. Yahoo confirmed the misinformation and launched a review of Thompson’s hiring. Thompson would depart Yahoo, replaced by Ross Levinsohn as interim CEO.
Where is he now: Two months after leaving Yahoo, Thompson was named CEO of online shopping service ShopRunner, a position he continues to hold.
Stock price when started: $15.60
Current stock price (as of July 22 close): $39.38
Highlights: The former Google star kicked off an acquisition spree, including the $1 billion deal to snag Tumblr. Yahoo’s stock price surged under Mayer, as investors appeared confident in a turnaround. It never happened, pushing shareholders to call for Mayer to sell off Yahoo's core Internet businesses and maintain its lucrative stake in Alibaba. After a four-month sales process, Verizon eventually won out with a $4.8 billion bid.
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