• BusinessWeek, Friday, September 19, 2008 11:15 AM

APEX, Yahoo's new Advertiser Publisher Exchange, may be Jerry Yang's last throw of the dice as Yahoo CEO. Company shareholders are calling for Yang's head after Yahoo's share price fell below $19 in recent weeks -- a five-year low for the Web giant. Meanwhile, Yahoo profits and sales growth are both slowing, thanks in part to a slowdown in the U.S. display advertising market.

In an interview where BusinessWeek describes Yang as looking "every bit the embattled chief executive he is," Yang stresses that APEX "is a big bet" -- and could very likely be his last big bet. "It is truly the next generation of advertising," Yang adds. Well, it better be.

APEX will be officially unveiled at Advertising Week next week. As with any integrated advertising system, the idea is to make it easier to buy and sell display ads across Yahoo properties and its partner sites. The core of the system is a free online marketplace where publishers highlight available ad slots on their pages. Advertisers then use the targeting information collected on Yahoo's expansive network (which now includes 784 newspapers) to target ads to prospective buyers in particular geographic areas. Yahoo hopes that advertisers will be willing to pay a premium for improved targeting, greater reach, and an easier buying experience.

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