Analysts: New Yahoo CEO must shed assets for better focus

Yang's departure provides company an opportunity to come up with a plan for survival

Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence who blogs at Search Engine Land, noted that Yang's successor needs to understand both the high technology and media businesses.

"The incoming CEO, whoever he or she is, is in a similar position as US President-elect Barack Obama -- inheriting something of a mess," Sterling noted. "Yahoo has a great brand and assets but there's less margin for error than there was before the recession kicked in and before one-too-many re-orgs."

The Yahoo workforce is likely numb from the company's recent history and reorganizations, he added. "The incoming CEO will need to gain their confidence and allegiance at a time when there's a 10% reduction-in-force [coming]," he added. "Gaining the trust of Yahoo employees, putting a personal stamp on the company without initiating another re-org or major change of direction and restoring the market's confidence in Yahoo's future are just a few of the big tasks ahead for the new Yahoo CEO, whoever that will be."

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