

Interim Yahoo CEO Ross Levinsohn leaves company - madz
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/interim-yahoo-ceo-ross-levinsohn-220159342.html

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paulsutter
Good for Ross that he got a payout. Ross is a terrific guy - I worked with him
at Altavista - but I can imagine a real culture clash between his style and
Marissa's. Love to see what he gets up to next.

He would have made a great CEO of Yahoo, better than the predecessors. But a
completely different style than Marissa.

Marissa is a fascinating choice. She'll shake the place up, all metrics and
data driven, make huge changes. It could be a big success, or the place may be
too brittle. Either way, something to watch.

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chrisacky
I did this once when I was nine years old.

We were playing soccer and I was the team captain. I picked the team, but no
one would pass me to the ball, so I quit and went home.

(In seriousness though, it's hard to make any opinion on this decision without
an actual statement from Levinsohn, which I seriously think he should make.
Because at the moment, my perspective is that he just threw all of his toys
out of the pram). And also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't know of any
profession where an "ACTING"-position would then have a high fulfillment rate
for going on and taking the actual job.

Teaching for example, you get acting heads all the time, when the deputy steps
up, but (almost) _never_ will the acting head secure a permanent position.
(Perhaps it's different in other countries). And yes, I agree with Chuck
below.

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ChuckMcM
You can be a bit more charitable than that. Being the acting CEO and then not
the real CEO is like dating someone, proposing to them, and then have them get
engaged to someone else. Sure you can remain friends but its always
uncomfortable around the fiance, the questions "What did they have they I
don't?", the whispers, the pity.

People, who are professionals, give room to the new leadership, if they were
the former leadership they do that by leaving.

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rdl
It's sad for Yahoo that he's leaving, as his experience really would be
complementary to Mayer's (media, advertising, familiar with Yahoo!, ...). I'm
sure he felt bad on being passed over for CEO, but he would have been great as
head of the media part of the business, which IMO is worth at least half of
the CEO's compensation.

