"Yahoo is hunting for a new CEO after Jerry Yang announced plans to step down due to public pressure. Yahoo has confirmed that co-founder and CEO Jerry Yang will step down, and the search for a replacement has begun.

Yang will step down as CEO once a replacement is found, and will go back to being "Chief Yahoo," which was his previous job at Yahoo.  He will focus on Yahoo's global strategy and will attempt to try and help Yahoo in its most tumultuous time.

"Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level," Yahoo board members said in a statement.  "We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo as a key executive and member of the board."

Yang publicly stated he wished to remain in control of Yahoo, but the company's board faced too much pressure to try and replace him because of failed business deals over the past few months.

Yahoo will work with executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles to help look for a new candidate -- the board will consider Yahoo executives and outsiders.

After becoming CEO in June 2007 Yang saw success, but his tenure as CEO will likely be remembered as a failure due to a stifled bid by Microsoft to take over the search engine giant.

After months of publicly trading arguments, Microsoft eventually offered to purchase the company for a reduced price, which was again turned down.  In early September, the company's stock price plummeted to $17.81; a number that some analysts predicted would be the lowest it would reach before Yahoo could turn things around.  Yahoo's shares closed today at $10.63 -- its lowest sharing price in five years. "