Ad Industry Thanks Jerry Yang for Yahoo

Marketers had many kind words for Yahoo founder Jerry Yang in the wake of his resignation from the company’s board and other official functions. Their support, often expressed on Twitter, came even as investors cried “good riddance” over revenue declines and Yang’s failure to broker a sale to Microsoft two years ago when he was CEO. But Yang’s fans took a longer view, and in their tweets often seemed to rebuke those Wall Street critics.

Some were written by the diaspora of former Yahoos (A LinkedIn search finds 25,000 current or former employees), whose careers sprang from the website Yang built along with co-founder David Filo back in 1995. Here are a few:

Chris Copeland, CEO of GroupM Search:

Jerry Yang deserves far more in accolades for his contribution to the Web than slings for failing to max Yahoo value

— Chris Copeland (@SearchBoss) January 17, 2012

Dylan Parks, VP national sales, Videology Group:

I for one would like to thank Jerry Yang for his MASSIVE contributions to the interweb.Jerry, I only wish you had a Twitter account…

— Dylan (@Dylan_Parks) January 18, 2012

Gideon Yu, chief strategy officer, San Francisco 49ers (former CFO at Facebook and YouTube):

Thank you, Jerry Yang. Everyone who loves the internet should be forever grateful.

— Gideon Yu (@gideonyu) January 17, 2012

Jean-Philippe Maheu, CEO, Publicis Modem:

Jerry Yang is leaving #Yahoo. He should however be celebrated for founding the company more than 15 yrs ago.

— Jean-Philippe Maheu (@jpmaheu) January 18, 2012

Rojit Jenveja, software engineer, Google:

jerry yang had more impact than 99.9999% of people criticizing him right now. created thousands of jobs and helped move internet forward.

— Rohit J (@rohitjenveja) January 18, 2012

Rick Pal, former product manager for Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Contacts:

Thank you Jerry Yang for creating a brilliant co that makes my life better every day and that I loved working at for 5 years. #legend #yahoo

— Rick Pal (@rpal23) January 18, 2012

Jonathan Yarmis, industry analyst,

I remember when my view of the Internet was defined by Jerry Yang and his directory.He built something (in)valuable that endures to this day

— Jonathan L. Yarmis (@jyarmis) January 17, 2012

Yang walks away with a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo, where has served on the board of directors since March 1995.

He wrote in a letter, “As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo into an exciting and successful future.”