Jerry Yang, Yahoo
The dream team of Yang and David Filo, Yahoo's co-founders, was given its own spotlight in a March 2, 1998 Fortune article called "How Yahoo won the search wars." Filo was 31 at the time, and Yang was a mere 29. The two yahoos created their search engine while engineering students at Stanford and it emerged from the dot-com bust as a major Internet brand.
Yang's final days at Yahoo, however, were more memorable for their controversy. In 2008, Yang turned down an offer from Microsoft to acquire the company for $33 a share. He stepped down in early 2009 and the company is now run by the equally controversial Carol Bartz. Yahoo's shares, meanwhile, trade at about $16.50.
In the volatile world of online media, the more things change, the more they stay the same. In our 1998 article, we breathlessly told readers, "Some people say it's the next America Online." Today, of course, some wonder if the two struggling companies need to combine forces in order to survive.
NEXT: Peggy Yu, DangDang.com
Last updated December 01 2010: 6:26 PM ET
