Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock wants a new Yahoo CEO to be named by the beginning of next year, Kara Swisher reports, which means the company's board has just 28 days left to appoint a successor to Jerry
Yang, who stepped down as Yahoo CEO last month. Bostock and board member Gary Wilson are heading the executive search along with the rest of the board and the executive search firm Heidrick &
Struggles. "It's almost like a Berkeley collective!" Swisher says.
According to sources both inside and outside the company, the Yahoo board has drawn up a list of six criteria for the new
Yahoo CEO, including "extensive" experience as the CEO of a public company, media and advertising expertise, M&A experience, and strategic skills. Another idea is to bring in a No. 1 and No. 2 exec
with one stronger in media and the other stronger in products and technology.
However, Swisher's sources claim the Yahoo board may actually be leaning toward one of their own -- former
Nextel head John Chapple, former media exec Frank Biondi, Jr. or former Microsoft exec Maggie Wilderotter. Not only do they want to appoint someone with operational skills, but they also want someone
who can work with Yang, who retains an important position on the board as Chief Yahoo. Swisher also claims that Yahoo is ready to do an AOL deal sometime in the next week, with or without a new
CEO-which is more incentive for naming an insider to the post.
Read the whole story at D: All Things Digital »