Tensions stirred up once Yang was faced with pressures from Microsoft to sell Yahoo! for the grand amount of $47.5 billion. That’s three times more than the current Yahoo! market value. Yang refused this offer and let such pressures assist in his decision to resign as CEO of the company.

He says he still will continue as a member of Yahoo!, though, in a role called “chief yahoo”. It’s a role he filled before taking the title of CEO in June 1997. Yang will also stay as a member of the Yahoo! board of directors.

The company is now conducting interviews for a new CEO to take Yang’s place. The company is interviewing people within the business as well as outside the business to search for the best candidate. This search is being led by Yahoo! Chairman Roy Bostock and the executive recruitment firm Heidrick & Struggles.

While Yang wouldn’t necessarily have wanted to step down from his title, it seems like a decision that was meant to be. The Yahoo! board had its own pressures to possibly replace Yang before he thought to step down. Since early 2003, the company’s shares have faced a large price drop. Yahoo! on Monday had a decline of 19 cents and closed at $10.63. That’s not much as compared to the bid of $33 per share Microsoft had in May 2008.

While Yang had some ideas he thought would stimulate a turnaround for Yahoo!, the economy’s performance helped to slow that down. Though he initially wanted to partner up advertising with Google, Google didn’t want to cooperate due to fears of having to go to court.

This would have caused issues with online advertising competition. Though Yang wanted to try again with AOL, he soon learned this would hurt more as their numbers continued sinking. His role change but ability to still stay involved is viewed as good for him as well as the company to keep highly experienced members on the team.

Shareholders in the online business are still unsure which major companies have strengths and which are experiencing the most difficulty. There are several ways for them to get involved.

Chicago is one of the hosts for Search Engine Strategies (SES), which is a long-running series that spreads recognition and education for online marketing. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary, SES has set a conference from Dec. 8, 2008 to Dec. 12, 2008 at the Hilton in Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Ave.