Yahoo! CEO Semel resigning - Liveblogging the webcast

Jerry is speaking now, saying how he is certain Terry will continue to consult from his chairman role. He contributed to Yahoo! by refocusing it. He mentions Semel's earlier contributions of course.

4:58: Okay, It's a little gushing. Even Jerry sounds like he is somewhat nervous while speaking of Terry and his contribution.
As he speaks of Sue, he starts calming down. They will together lead the company and he's happy to work with her.

5:00: Sue is speaking now. She also sounds a little choked as she's talking about Terry and what he brought to Yahoo!
As for Jerry, she says, he remains the true face of Yahoo! as on the co-founders.

5:02: Jerry again. "I am ready for the role of CEO," he says. So far, nothing really that earth shattering in this webcast.
Finally, Jerry is talking more about the business - advertising.

5:03: Yahoo! recognized Web 2.0 early on and is a leader in social networking.

Yahoo! is facing greater competition in product and talent! Finally, he's talking about things that have been on our minds. Jerry says he will make efforts to keep talent.
Display advertising - there is slow growth, Yahoo! will continue to take advantage.

5:05: Despite the challenges and the fact the past year hasn't been easy, Yahoo! is making progress.
Panama - Financial performance in the quarter above expectations!!!

Still, Yahoo! still wants to execute better. Good! Yang believes Yahoo! is in a position to thrive due to technology, web properties worldwide and employees. Will be strong competitor and a winner!!! He sees long-term potential. Yang has committed to 12 years.

5:08: Yahoo! can and will be a vibrant independent company.

5:09: Sue about the biz. Pleased with the results of user, advertisers and publishers. She's about to give examples of how the alignment of the business worked in Yahoo!'s advantage. Yahoo!'s home page is its own business and therefore operates better. The photos were combined under Flickr. Yahoo! is more integrated and more competitive. Display, distribution etc., won Yahoo! the Comcast deal and the newspaper deal.

5:12: Sue is outlining more changes. She will actually take out a management layer, and I believe she said that her previous role will not be re-filled, but collapsing several responsibilities under her. She thinks this would give better customer focus.

5:13: Business Outlook: Double digit revenue gain y-o-y. However, aha!, slower growth in display advertising. Still it should show acceleration.
Revenue for Q2: midpoint to low-end of range.
Q2 earnings on July 17.

5:16: Sue is closing - why she's so exciting about the future. She believes there will be added shareholder value. I believe she had just alluded to Google's giant market share by saying something about the value of many vs. the value of one. Interesting.

We're soon starting after Jerry finishes his summary. Main points: there are challenges but Panama is outperforming expectations.

Q&A:

5:20: Bear Stearns Robert Peck: How much partnering and with what type in the future?
Jerry: Advertising and audience. Advertising will be on other people's inventory as well. He talked about previous and ongoing alliances like AT&T and eBay, but still hasn't said anything material regarding the future other than the obvious.
Sue: Capital will be very competitive. Buy vs. build. She feels confident Yahoo! would be competitive on the market. She says RightMedia and others will be critical to future advertising.

5:24: Goldman Sachs Anthony Noto: Were you considering someone else outside of Yahoo!?
Terry: The discussion about succession at the board have been going on for a long time. Terry says he saw himself more as a coach than a player going forward. Sue and Jerry working as a team, combining talents and skills, they know the company, so they saw it a great opportunity to have continuity as they know Yahoo! so well.
Jerry: Yahoo! can become a core web internet company with this leadership.

5:27: JPMorgan Imran Khan: Asked a lot about advertising.
Sue: She's talking about the eBay deal, serving display ads on their platform, moved to the newspaper consortium and then Comcast. RightMedia acquisition was key to enhance and extend the ad network. 50-60 ad networks are attached. The changes will be more visible in 2008. All these components will be critical.

5:30: Bank of America Brian Pitz: About David Filo and attracting premium talent.
Jerry: Searching for a CTO and will provide an update later (did he just evade the question?). As for talent, Yahoo! has it.

5:32: I missed who's asking the question: Difference between Yahoo! and Google as own vs. lease.
Sue: The comparison is complicated because it's comparing more apples to oranges but comparing apples to apples, Sue feels Yahoo! has been comparable in capex. (Interesting!). She says she gets the question a lot - no kidding!

5:34: Deutsche Banc Jeetil Patel: Again about talent.
Jerry: "There are senior positions Sue and I need to fill." (Yes, we all know that, we want to see that now!). He intends to say more in a few weeks.
Sue: Prefers to talk about investment and cost in the Q2 call.

And that's it. Voila!

Yahoo!'s CEO to management shuffle coverage:

• Yahoo!'s webcast was dull and uninspiring
• Susan Decker passed over for Yahoo! CEO role: Always the bridesmaid
• Yahoo dumps Semel. What took so long?
• Terry Semel resigns; Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang takes over