Yahoo Inc.s chief technology officer, Farzad Nazem, is stepping down.
Nazem, who has been with the company since 1996 and who served as chief technology officer for the past decade, is resigning just as Yahoo stabilized its management team; the company had recently named Blake Jorgensen as chief financial officer, with Susan Decker moving to head up Yahoos advertiser and publisher group.
Nazems departure leaves an opening in Yahoos engineering and product development, just as the company is struggling to compete with Google, the leader in the Internet advertising and search space.
In a posting to the company blog, Nazem said that he was retiring after bringing to completion several large projects.
“We wanted to realign the company and, subsequently, the Technology Group, successfully launch our new search monetization system [Panama] and build a solid technology leadership team to help take this company to the next level,” Nazem wrote.
Yahoo has not announced a replacement for Nazem, but Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang “will be acting as the interim executive sponsor of the Technology Group until we identify my permanent replacement,” Nazem wrote.
Nazem was prominent in Yahoos management restructuring, which began in earnest after Senior Vice President Brad Garlinghouses “peanut butter manifesto” was leaked online in December 2006.
Yahoo disclosed Nazems resignation in a company filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. His resignation is effective June 8. He will receive a lump sum salary payment, and his options will vest when he leaves.
