Digital Trends

Company co-founder Jerry Yang is stepping down as Yahoo's CEO, and is helping in the search for his successor.

Back in June 2007 Jerry Yang, co-founder of the company, stepped into the chief executive role at Yahoo. Now he’s stepping down, leaving a company battered by the economy, a failed ad search deal with Google, and full of controversy about the rejection of the aborted Microsoft takeover.

In an e-mail to employees, Yang, who’s reportedly worth $1.7 billion, said:

"I will always do what is right for this great company."

He will be working with Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock to select his successor, the BBC reports, and interviews are being conducted both inside and outside the company. Insiders say the board has known of Yang’s decision for several weeks.

It certainly hasn’t been a good year for Yahoo. Its stock reached a five-year low of $10.63 a share yesterday, far below the $33 a share Microsoft offered in May when they attempted to buy the company. The falling share prices might explain why, earlier this month, just after Google had pulled out of a much-touted search ad deal with Yahoo, Yang told a conference that Microsoft should make another offer for the company.

"I don't think it's a bad idea at all, at the right price whatever that price is,” he said. “We're willing to sell the company."