San Franciso, November 18, 2008, IR Summary/NYT -    Jerry Yang, 40, has opposed to a takeover bid from Microsoft saying that the Memorandum that he sent to the Company’s staff on Monday clearly states he would hold the post until the board nominates his successor and further agrees to participate in the process and would not hesitate to go back to his previous status as Chief Yahoo.

In a memorandum typed in his style using no capital letters, he wrote, “i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.” .

The announcement comes a year and a half after Mr. Yang assumed control of Yahoo from Terry Semel, a Hollywood studio boss that he handpicked for the job. Mr. Yang’s tenure has been marked by a precipitously declining stock price and the high profile collapse of a $44 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft last spring.

A Yahoo spokesman described the decision as “mutual” and “in progress for a while.”

“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 C.E.O. who can take the company to the next level,” Roy J. Bostock, Yahoo’s chairman, wrote in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as C.E.O. 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.”

Yahoo has hired executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help look for candidates.

Shares of Yahoo closed at $10.63 in regular trading ON Monday, but shot up more than 4 percent in after-hours trading, with shareholders expressing some measure of relief that Yahoo’s long downward spiral might finally be arrested.

“It’s definitely positive from a shareholder perspective,” said Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets. “Jerry has done less than a stellar job after taking the reins from Terry Semel last year, not just completely botching the Microsoft deal but with poor execution and multiple company restructurings that have done little to restore confidence of any of Yahoo’s shareholders, employees or customers.”

Mr. Sandler also raised the possibility that Mr. Yang’s departure could rekindle interest by Microsoft in Yahoo. Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, has complained that Mr. Yang had no real interest in the deal. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on Monday.

Yahoo said it would look for possible replacements inside and outside the company. Potential candidates include Susan L. Decker, Yahoo’s president; Daniel L. Rosensweig, the former chief operating officer of Yahoo who is now a principal at the investment firm Quadrangle Group; and Jonathan F. Miller, the former head of AOL. More