Co-founder Yahoo is leaving immediately

Jerry Yang, one of the founders and former CEO of Yahoo, is leaving the company effective immediately. Yang says in a statement that after 17 years he thinks it is time to focus on other things. Yang’s position within the company had been under pressure for some time.

Yang will leave the company effective immediately and will also terminate his positions at Yahoo Japan and Alibaba Corp, a Chinese internet company in which Yahoo has a large stake. That share is probably the main reason Yang left the company, both write AllThingsD if The New York Times.

Yahoo is considering selling its share in Alibaba to become financially stronger. With the money, Yahoo could prevent investment firms like Silver Lake and TPG Capital from gaining too much influence. Those companies rattle at Yahoo’s door with investment proposals in exchange for clout. Yang sat on the board of directors of both Yahoo and Alibaba and reportedly was not in favor of such a deal.

Yang co-founded Yahoo in 1995 with David Filo. He served as CEO of the company from June 2007 to January 2009. After Yang turned down a takeover offer from Microsoft, he stepped down as CEO. His successor, Carol Bartz, was dismissed in September last year. Yahoo’s current CEO is Scott Thompson, who was responsible for the PayPal division at eBay.