What best symbolizes what went wrong at Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO)? How it handled the rise of financial blogging.

When looking up stock quotes on Yahoo Finance, there is a financial blog section -- but it only publishes blogs from Seeking Alpha and no one else. Why? Because Terry Semel, Yahoo's ousted CEO, applied the old-boys media network model to Internet programming -- partner with large and well-established media companies and split up the profits. Did this work? No.

"In Web 1.0, the publisher told you what to read, in web 2.0, the consumer is the boss," said Andy Monfried, president and founder of LOTAME, in a recent interview on Wallstrip.com. Monfried was a top executive at Advertising.com which he helped build into the leading third party advertising network which is now part of AOL.

"Click through rates and brand methods do not apply any more. The cost to buy the media from social media networks is so much less than portals and other resources that have content. Going forward, advertising is all about user-generated content," Monfried noted.

LOTAME stands for Local Target Media and wants to be the connector between local social content and advertisers such as a Myspace or Facebook with the local pizza guy or the national advertiser. Yahoo has preached for years of its desire to be the leader in bringing the Internet advertising model to the local guy, but it never succeeded. It is the user-generated content that is the missing link for success in this area and Semel never got it.

Yahoo is in big trouble. Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) figured out what was going to work and has won Web 2.0. For Yahoo to succeed it will have to find something it can do differently than Google, possibly aligning with Myspace.com, which was speculated yesterday on CNBC.

From an investment perspective, Yahoo's real estate position on the web is too big to pass up on. The Fly has blogged endlessly for the past year of Yahoo being a value stock and investors should jump into it and put it away. Our stance remains the same. A successfully run Yahoo has the potential to generate some big returns for shareholders.

If I were Susan Decker, I'd be rollicked with mixed emotions. On one hand, the long-awaited exit of Terry Semel as Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO gives Sue a lot of room to get on with her company's renovation. She's often been seen as Yahoo!'s strongest leader and most talented executive; Semel's resignation really makes the company hers in a way it never could be before. In December, her promotion to Executive Vice President, Head of Advertiser and Publisher Group made her the heir apparent. And she's been named President, surely a lovely title reminiscent of ultimate power.

But on the other hand, this is a corporation, and the real power is in the position of Chief Executive Officer -- the job we all know she should (if she has half the ambition she seems) truly desire. Not only that, but the rest of the world agrees she's the best candidate for the position. This perfect opportunity to give her the title for which her career has been grooming her? It's been passed over, and we all have to wonder: what were they thinking? and, will she ever be the bride? and, if you were her, wouldn't you be updating your profile on HotJobs about now?

Every deep discussion of the Semel resignation contains the same perplexed question. Various answers to the why not Sue? conundrum include "because she's not an outsider" and "I just don't know." Could it be because she doesn't have the coding geek background? Because she's a woman? Or is the board really (as many suggest, but I don't buy) just biding their time until ... something ... to name her CEO?

Come on. If Susan was going to be named CEO, now would be the time. Why put off any longer? If the board really was happy with her in the role, the job would be hers, effective immediately. Last time they reorganized the entire company to give her a new-and-improved title. This one, to me, says "you know honey, maybe you're just not CEO material." What do you think?

Finally, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has ditched its CEO Terry Semel, according to MarketWatch. And the new CEO is Jerry Yang, a co-founder of the company. Former CFO, Susan Decker was named president, positioning her for a chance to take over the top slot.

It is beyond me why Semel held onto his job for so long. He helped stabilize Yahoo after the dot-com crash but has stumbled from one incompetent quarter to the next for years. And he has taken home some truly outrageous pay -- a total of $452 million in salary, bonus and stock-option exercises since April 2001 [subscription] -- during which time Yahoo stock has risen four-fold.

However, in the last year the disconnect between Semel's pay and Yahoo's performance became too much to take. According to the New York Times, his total 2006 pay was $107.5 million during which time Yahoo's stock fell 35%. And directors concluded Yahoo was just not catching up fast enough with Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) so Semel had to go.

Susan Decker had been positioned to take over the company as CEO. But Yahoo's board probably decided that she was not yet ready. However, she is considered to have the inside track during the CEO search to replace Semel. So Yang's appointment could be just a temporary move that will help stabilize the company until she is ready.

Or, with the stock up 8% to $29.62 in after-hours trading, he might just sell it. It would make a nice morsel for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT).

Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned in this post.

[See our live blog of the web cast in which Terry Semel discusses his resignation here.]

How long can you perform so inexpertly at your job that all of Wall Street calls for your firing, and still keep hangin' on? Evidently Terry Semel reached the end of his mental rope as of June 17, 2007. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) just announced Semel was resigning effective immediately. Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang will take over as CEO.

Interestingly, Semel won't be getting a separation agreement (read: no money), as he's resigning voluntarily. I wonder whose decision that really was?

A webcast discussing the resignation will be starting in five minutes, at 4:45 Eastern time. Melly Alazraki is live blogging the announcement.

Other BloggingStocks coverage:
Brian White: Even with Semel out, Yahoo! still can't catch Google
Georges Yared: Google is the reason Terry Semel just couldn't win
Peter Cohan: What took so long -- and, with YHOO up sharply since announcement, will Jerry Yang sell?
Gary Sattler: Was Terry Semel really that bad? Ummm, yes.
Melly Alazraki: Webcast uninspiring; I was hoping for new talent from the outside.
Julie Tilsner: Yahoo! disorganized; I'm glad I didn't end up as a Yahoo!
Jonathan Berr: Yahoo! needs fixing; it should avoid bidding for Dow Jones. And will Susan Decker now quit?
May 3, 2007: $40 million in 2006 too much for Semel
December 2007: Yahoo! reorganization annoints Decker; you call this a reorganization? Terry Semel should be fired.

Word on the Street is that Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Terry Semel is considering resigning from the Internet giant. Rumors are swirling that if Semel resigns, potentially within the next six months, co-founder Jerry Yang will take his place as CEO and Sue Decker will become the company's president.

Last week, the Associated Press reported that angry shareholders have been looking to oust Semel for some time. One shareholder, the article noted, said he believes the company "is drifting" and "its problems ultimately lie at Terry's feet. The feeling among shareholders is widespread." The fact that rival Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) has seen its shares increase nearly six-fold since going public, while Yahoo!'s stock fell 4%, has had shareholders calling for Semel's head on a plate; Google's stock has risen about 30% over the past year, while Yahoo!'s is down 10%.

Shareholders believe that Yahoo!'s younger rival is dominant in the search advertising field, partly because of its acquisitions of DoubleClick and YouTube, while Yahoo! is contending with the resignation of CTO Farzad Nazem (Jerry Yang is serving as the company's interim CTO).

Then there's the issue of Panama, which some claim to be a "Google-wannabe." Back in January, the Wall Street Journal reported some users saying that an upgrade to the online-ad system is a "hassle." Currently, Yahoo! trails behind both Google and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) in the ad-search field, and with many disappointed in Panama, investors can only hope that a new CEO, someone with "fresh eyes," would be able to make an acquisition -- online advertising company ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK), perhaps? -- to fill in the gap.

Let's say Semel resigned and Yang took his place. Many analysts feel that this would be a positive move for the company; RBC Capital, for one, believes that shares of Yahoo! could go up $1-$2 should Semel resign. Under new management, the firm said, the company could be open to new ideas that Semel had previously rejected.

While there has been speculation the company would be put up for sale under the direction of Semel, perhaps an intense restructuring under a new leader would be what the company needs to get back on track.

Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholders sent a symbolic message yesterday about the heft of Chief Executive Terry Semel's $71.7 million paycheck, which was more than double that of any other Silicon Valley CEO last year, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Three top advisory firms have been urging institutional shareholders to vote against three members of Yahoo's compensation committee, one-third of the investors voted against the slate of directors at the annual meeting, up significantly from 2005, when nearly one-fifth of the investors withheld their votes for directors after a similar campaign.

About one-third of investors also backed a union pension fund's proposal to tie pay more closely to performance.

Reacting in part to shareholder discontent, Yahoo's board approved a controversial package in May 2006 that slashed Semel's salary from $600,000 to $1 but awarded him 6 million options to carry him through a three-year period. Those options were valued at more than $71 million.

Semel has cashed in a total of $446 million in gains since taking charge in 2001. During this time, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) has come to dominate many aspects of Internet searching and advertising.

Meanwhile, investors continue to look for any signs of success from Project Panama.

24/7 Wall St. has generated a list of public company CEOs where investors in the underlying companies would likely be better served by a new CEO. While this may seem aggressive, some of these aren't actually calling for the CEOs to be fired. The difficulty in calling for new new leadership is that in many cases there is an issue as to who would be the replacement candidate. How many Jack Welches and Lou Gerstners are there in the world? Taking the Six Sigma class and studying under them only goes so far.

This list is put in alphabetical order by company name. Calling a guy the No. 1 needing to go versus the No. 3 is too subjective, and as a reminder, some of these CEO change suggestions are nominal in actuality and execution. This list and brief note is a mere summary of the full article.

Amazon.com's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos. He doesn't need to go away entirely! He just needs to do a partial title change. But will anyone inside the company tell the emperor he is wearing no space suit?

Citigroup's (C) Chuck Prince. The prince calls for Draconian measures, and maybe the prince didn't mean just THIS Prince.

Dell's (DELL) Kevin Rollins. Rollins may survive since the stock has recovered. If the stock falls back again, Wall Street has already telegraphed a true Michael Dell Inc. would be better again.

Eastman Kodak's (EK) Antonio Perez. Maybe he's nice, but for heaven's sake get the restructuring over with and get some mojo. Bring in a digital media leader.

Gap Inc.'s (GPS) Paul Pressler. Every generation may have one, but his generation gap has helped the Gap to alienate customers and send them to competitors.

Home Depot's (HD) Bob Nardelli. Does anyone on Wall Street respect him? Just because he was one of the runners-up to run G.E. doesn't mean he shouldn't change his name to Richard.

Qualcomm's (QCOM) Paul Jacobs. He isn't being sent home yet, but his dad's shoes are proving very hard to fill.

Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) & XM Satellite Radio (XMSR). It is a dead heat in the race, and if two companies need to merge, it's these two. There can be only one.

Wal-Mart's (WMT) Lee Scott. The company is struggling under its own weight, and it needs some good PR. Getting rid of the Darth Vader of Corporate America and bringing in someone fun and likeable would be the best start.

Yahoo!'s (YHOO) Terry Semel. Yes, when you see him leave or forced out, Yahoo! holders should be happy.

A lot of these may be controversial, and there are plenty of other companies which might benefit from a new CEO. None of these attacks are personal and these are merely based on observation and analysis. The list could probably be 100 CEOss long.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St. LLC; He does not hold securities in the companies he covers. He also not been compensated to represent any of these companies in any light.

Very early in the morning, stock futures are mixed, albeit trending downward, pointing to a flat to positive start for the S&P 500 and a negative start for the Nasdaq.

Overseas, Asian market were positive, while European markets are flat to negative. The dollar strengthened somewhat against the pound and the euro, but not as much against the yen.

With little economic data today other than weakly crude inventories to be released at 10:30, and ahead of the all important and market impacting non-farm payroll to be reported Friday, the market will pay more attention to management shakeup and some leading, but struggling, companies such as Yahoo! and DaimlerChrysler.

First, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO). The buzz started yesterday in the afternoon that major shakeup and reorganization in the company are to come as Sarah Gilbert pointed out last night. YHOO stock has been struggling losing 30% YTD while competitor Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares are up over 17% YTD.

As part of the reorganization at Yahoo!, Chief Operating Officer Daniel Rosensweig and Media Group chief Lloyd Braun will leave the company, while Yahoo Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker will assume an even more prominent management role. Farzad Nazem, Yahoo's chief technology officer, will remain in that position. By all accounts, this positions Decker to succeed Semel as the CEO. YHOO shares are up half a percent in pre-market.

Joe Eberhardt, Chrysler Group's executive vice president of global sales, marketing and service, and No. 2 in DaimlerChrysler AG's (NYSE:DCX) Chrysler Group will leave the company to run his own Mercedes-Benz dealership. Apparently, a Mercedes dealership is still profitable despite falling sales in Chrysler.

Novell Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) is sinking more than 8% in pre-market after reporting disappointed quarterly financial results yesterday. Revenue fell 15% to $244.9 million, compared to analysts forecast of $251.5 million. Novell also said it would likely incur $20 million to $25 million in restructuring charges.

Wall Street investment banks can breathe a little easier today as a federal appeals court rejected a securities class-action lawsuit accusing them of manipulating the prices of initial public offerings during the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s, according to The New York Times. The potential settlements could have amounted to billions with nearly all banks affected. The plaintiffs, however, could seek a review by the entire panel of the Second Circuit.

US Airways Group (NYSE:LCC) CEO Doug Parker said his company will drop its proposed takeover of Delta Air Lines (Other OTC:DALRQ) if Delta management remains unconvinced of the benefits, as he is not prepared to fight with management.

A few weeks ago we were buzzing about a posting in which several Yahoo! insiders and outsiders were ranked with the probability they might succeed embattled CEO Terry Semel. The scuttlebutt amongst media insiders: Yahoo! is disorganized, without a unifying personality to lead the company, weak on strategy and thinly-staffed. First among the contenders to take over Terry's job and charge forth with a new mission was CFO Susan Decker.

It seems as if the "bookies" were right. Tonight Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) got a reorganization. In the press release, the company announces it has divided itself into three sections: the Audience Group, the Advertiser & Publisher Group, and the Technology Group. What's more, COO Dan Rosensweig is leaving the company in March (he was rumored to be a rival to Decker for the CEO spot). Decker will head the Advertiser & Publisher Group (i.e. where the money is), certainly a nod toward her potential to take over the "corner cube" from Semel.

Buzz started at 4 p.m. local time: there was an internal company-wide executive level webcast. Nothing says "someone is getting fired" like "internal company-wide executive-level webcast." At least not in a web company! The response so far: "no surprise," "no surprise" that Project Panama is being set as a priority for the new Technology group (and, from the same post, "If you can't sum up a unit in 30 words maybe it's not streamlined enough"), "where is Jeff Weiner, Yahoo!'s former golden boy?" and, from an insider, why not Britney Spears as CEO? [Or, at the very least, the head of the audience group, for which a search party has been launched.]

Back when business casual dressing was the rage, Yahoo!'s board gave a necktie party for CEO Tim Koogle. It was March 8, 2001. Yahoo! Inc.'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) stock had dropped from a bubble-fueled $108 in late 1999 to just above $8. Terry Semel, former Warner Bros. big came in to replace Koogle.

Like most Internet stocks that hit ridiculous highs in 1999, Yahoo!'s stock never returned to that level. But, it did get back to $43 in early 2006, and, after a series of missteps, it has fallen to just above $24.

Yahoo! management has to take the lion's share of the blame here. Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) stock has outperformed the older company by a huge margin. Yahoo!'s new advertising and search technologies are behind their schedules. Yahoo! has warned on third quarter earnings. The company's strategy to keep Yahoo! as an "Internet portal" keeps it in a pack of old "new media" companies like AOL and MSN. Distinguishing one from the other is difficult.

Yahoo! did not acquire MySpace or YouTube. Either move could have picked up a massive new audience and put the company into the social networking/sharing business. And, Yahoo! has not introduced any major new product to steady its flagging fortune.

Perhaps it is time for Mr. Semel to go now. He had a good run from 2001 to 2005. He made hundreds of millions of dollars on Yahoo! stock. But he did not keep the company on the cutting edge. He took no big chance, and it shows. Even eBay took a chance on Skype, a company that would have fit better with Yahoo!'s instant messaging business.

The company's CFO and the COO are not likely candidates to take Mr. Semel's place. They have been involved in the decisions that have brought Yahoo! to its current place. Maybe one of Google's two management stars Omid Kordestani or Jonathan Rosenberg could take Semel's place.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Internet stocks were up today and Yahoo Inc. with them as its shares gained 91 cents, or 3.34%, to close at $28.17.

While there is no one news item that can explain today's rise in share price, the gain could be attributed to a number of recent positive issues:

• The rumor about Project Panama being well on its way with some advertisers gaining access to the new platform within a few weeks.
• The news that Yahoo has just hired Peter Daboll, formerly comScore Media Metrix CEO, to be the head of global market research, which provides Yahoo with consumer research used to help drive product development, marketing and sales.
• Then we have last week's comScore report showing Yahoo! News at the top of the list of news sites having a third of the traffic, or 31 million unique visitors in June.
• Or perhaps it was Terry Semel, Yahoo's CEO, handling of tough questions posed to him in this interview.

Having said all that,

• W.R Hambrecht cut Yahoo! shares price target to $33 from $42
• some started wondering whether Yahoo (along with Google and eBay) would be mentioned next with regards to the stock options scandal
• and finally, Yahoo's consumer satisfaction is down four points this year to 76, according the Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (as is Google's and AOL's)

In a move sure to take cost savings to a newly symbolic level, Yahoo! said today that Terry Semel's salary would be reduced to $1 each year throughout 2008, just like the top management at Google.

[Aside: as someone who's often been responsible for payroll, I've always wondered how these checks were processed; is it paid all at once or split up into bi-monthly amounts of four cents each? And do they withhold FICA?]

In return, Semel received 6 million stock options at an exercise price of $31.59 per share, as well as the opportunity to receive up to 1 million additional stock options each year. Semel has made $429 million in stock rewards, in addition to his $600,000 salary -- so please don't start sending him your leftover cans of garbanzo beans.

In the war for search supremacy, the past often comes back to haunt you. For the progenitor of search and long-time incumbent, Yahoo!, this holds true more often than not.

For Terry Semel, as CEO of Yahoo!, making tough decisions is part of the job.  When those decisions are cause for fanfare, then rejoicing in the limelight is a welcome perk, but when those decisions in hindsight are more than lamentable but shy of egregious, then he will certainly have to suffer some fierce criticism.

Today's New York Post: Online Edition is running a great story by Janet Whitman, covering quite the story by Terry Semel himself which he recounted at a May 11th Newhouse School-sponsored breakfast event.

The story goes that Semel met Larry Page and Sergei Brin for dinner in 2001, and though Google wasn't on the table, Larry and Sergei valued the business at $1 billion.