More Execs Bolt Yahoo, Reorganization Expected
by Mark Walsh, Friday, Jun 20, 2008 7:00 AM ET

Brad Garlinghouse of YahooBrad Garlinghouse, who led Yahoo's communications and communities group and authored the infamous "Peanut Butter Manifesto" that critiqued the company's business strategy, is among the latest to exit the Web portal. In addition to Garlinghouse, two more executives have decided to jump ship, according to reports published Thursday by two blogs--AllThingsD and TechCrunch--and The New York Times. The reports were based on unnamed people with knowledge of the departures.

The exodus comes amid reports that Yahoo is planning a reorganization that would centralize many key product lines, including search, mail and its home page into one integrated team. According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, the plan is being pushed by Yahoo President Susan Decker, and details could announced as soon as next week.

Qi Lu, Yahoo's EVP engineering for search and advertising technology group, and Vish Makhijani, the senior vice president and general manager of search, were following Garlinghouse out the door. Makhijani is to become CEO of Yandex, Russia's top search engine.

Earlier in the week, Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of Yahoo's network division, left the company and will split his time as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a pair of venture capital firms.

And Jeremy Zawodny--an evangelist for the open-source movement within Yahoo, who last week said he was leaving--is heading to Craigslist. Got all that?

To help keep track of the executive exodus, TechCrunch yesterday published a spreadsheet listing more than 50 senior managers who have left Yahoo in the last 18 months and where they ended up. Of course, if some Yahoo-watchers are correct, CEO Jerry Yang could soon be joining them.
Mark Walsh can be reached at walsh@mediapost.com