Jun 18, 2008 at 7:09am ET by Danny Sullivan
Yahoo feels like a nation that won its independence only to see all its leaders immediately flee the country. The latest emigrants: Flickr cofounders Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield. Their departure is unlikely to stall Flickr, but it gives a terrible impression of Yahoo as a company in further disarray.
TechCrunch broke the news of the departures. Valleywag has Butterfield’s resignation letter, where he alludes to Yahoo being a company that had expanded beyond its core "tin" production to the degree he felt "my ability to contribute has dwindled to near-nothing." Aside from Yahoo’s woes, the departures might also be due to the co-founders coming to the end of a deal with Yahoo, as Thomas Hawk speculates.
It’s difficult to know how seriously Butterfield means what he says in the letter. If it’s really that Yahoo has expanded too much — well, Flickr was one of those expansions. A good one, of course — and one Yahoo backed to the degree of shutting down Yahoo Photos last year.
Techmeme has more discussion on the departures from across the web. Via News.com, see also what people on Flickr are saying about the move (the Flickr blog still has no news — get with it, Yahoo!).
Yahoo Loses Jeff Weiner But Probably Won’t Replace Him from us covers the departure of high-profile search czar Jeffrey Weiner last week. Our Yahoo Employees archives detail many other departures.
Share, Bookmark & Discuss This Article
More:
Keep Updated: News Via Email | News Via RSS Feed | News Via Twitter
See more stories like this in the Members Library! Check out the Yahoo: Business Issues, Yahoo: Employees, Yahoo: Flickr sections of the Members Library where this story is filed. Members also get access to exclusive video content, a members-only weekly & monthly newsletter, plus more. Check out all the benefits!
TOP STORIES
SEARCH NEWS BRIEFS
FEATURES & ANALYSIS
RECENT COMMENTS
Stay on top of all the search news with our daily summary, the SearchCap newsletter. View a sample ›
Search Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.
SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »
Join us at an upcoming SMX event:
Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Search Marketing Now. Upcoming online events include:
Featured sites from our Blogroll
Become a premium member today and receive: