Jill Nash, who said she was leaving Yahoo (YHOO) in early February, will be taking the top PR job at San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. She will be Levi’s chief communications officer and VP of corporate affairs.

Previous to Yahoo, Nash (pictured here) had been a top flack at the Gap, also based in San Francisco.

As BoomTown previously reported, Nash left Yahoo after becoming weary of the constant tumult, which began almost as soon as she was hired by then-CEO Terry Semel.

Let’s just say, the situation at Yahoo went downward from there, until what appears to be a possibility of revival after the recent appointment of new CEO Carol Bartz, which Nash did not wait around to see for herself.

Levi is also not a walk in the park, though. In its most recent quarter, the jeans manufacturer saw tougher results, and its CEO, John Anderson, warned that 2009 would be a rough year for Levi and the entire retail market.

Here’s the full PR release from Levi about the new PR head:

Levi Strauss & Co. Names Jill Nash as Chief Communications Officer and Vice President of Corporate Affairs

Levi Strauss & Co. is one of the world’s leading branded apparel companies, marketing its products in more than 100 countries worldwide. The company designs and markets jeans and jeans-related pants, casual and dress pants, shirts, jackets and related accessories for men, women and children under the Levi’s® and Dockers® brands.

My favorite anecdote collected so far about new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is the one in which she recently called together two separate groups of execs who were direct reports of former Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker.

Bartz, several sources recounted, went around the table and asked them one by one what they actually did, making various outspoken comments along the way.

Two execs, for example, were a “two-in-one box,” meaning they did the same thing to her mind. And she had to get well around the room until she could find someone who made some dough. “Finally, revenue,” Bartz reportedly joked.

Stories about Bartz’s take-charge style have been ricocheting through Yahoo (YHOO) and outside it too, which is probably just what the tough-talking veteran exec has been aiming for as she navigates the troubled company to come up with a plan to revive it.

And despite all the jokes about Yahoo’s proclivity to constantly rearrange deck chairs, most expect Bartz to launch a significant reorganization as soon as she is up to speed. Which might be very soon indeed.

But of all the various things many employees I have talked to hope she does first is dump the “matrix” and replace it with a much simpler management system where top execs are more directly responsible for their P&L and less with complicated cross-functional corporate hairballs.

Ah, the dreaded matrix of Yahoo–that much maligned organizational structure that was instituted at the company under the reign of then-CEO Terry Semel and complexified drastically under Yang and Decker.

How to explain the matrix, whose goal was to simplify the huge global behemoth that is Yahoo by having a lot of managers over employees working on similar products?

Simply put, shared ownership, presumably, would make the troops of Yahoo work better across geographies.

There are pluses explained one exec: “The theory behind all of this is that if you centralize the functions you can share resources across various projects….Some degree of centralization is absolutely appropriate at big companies. You don’t want each business unit having its own finance or legal people, for example.”

But that also removes a lot of critical tools from line managers, many said, putting them into a larger pot where many are cooking.

Thus, the matrix has come to symbolize a drastic lack of accountability at Yahoo.

And, more to the point, a horrible gridlock in decision-making, which has stopped it from moving quickly in the face of more nimble and, let’s be honest, more dictatorially-run companies–think Apple’s (AAPL) Steve Jobs or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and you have a good idea what I mean.

Said one exec who has left the company about the downside of the matrix: “The great people leave because they don’t feel they have the tools and authority to be successful with what they are notionally responsible for. Or because there are so many people who think they are in charge, they can’t get anything done. The mediocre people stay as they are protected and not held accountable.”

Said another still there, in what is the more prevalent opinion of more than a dozen people I spoke to: “I hope Bartz takes the blue pill and we can forget all about the matrix.”

It’s a reference to the movie, “The Matrix,” in which the hero, Neo, is given a choice by Morpheus between a red and blue pill.

Says Morpheus: “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed, and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Many at Yahoo, by contrast, are hoping the days of rabbit holes are finally over.

In any case, until Bartz acts, here’s the cool red pill/blue pill scene from “The Matrix”:

Jill Nash, Yahoo’s chief communications officer, has told CEO Carol Bartz and other Yahoo staff this afternoon that she is leaving the company.

Yahoo has not made Nash’s resignation official, but is likely to do so quickly as Bartz tries to stanch incessant leaks (like this one; see below!).

In any case, sources said Nash does not appear to have any definite plans to move to another company immediately, so the reasons for her departure are unclear.

BoomTown would have to guess that Nash is simply completely spent from her past two years at Yahoo (YHOO), which have been very fraught from a public relations perspective, to say the least.

Nash, who was hired by former CEO Terry Semel, has had to deal with everything from management turmoil, after Semel was replaced by co-founder Jerry Yang, to poor financial results to a nasty takeover attempt by Microsoft (MSFT) to an even less friendly proxy fight to a failed search deal with Google (GOOG) to recent wrenching layoffs.

Not much good news to report, in other words, especially with a tough turnaround road ahead with newly installed CEO Bartz, who seems to have a very strong mind of her own about public relations.

(Including, several sources tell me, this week in an internal memo, offering cash rewards to employees who turn in other employees who leak to the press. Bartz has also initiated investigations to stop leaks. All I can say about these tactics–while it might seem reasonable to try to stop the leaking, from a management perspective, and I see why Bartz is focusing on it–is: Yahoo is not a prison and its employees are not snitches and–more to the point–they won’t leak to me if Bartz fixes the company.)

While I have not always seen eye-to-eye with Nash on this column’s coverage of Yahoo, I have found her to be a pro to deal with and fair, especially considering the often tense circumstances at Yahoo in the last year.

Nash is not the first top Yahoo exec to depart since Bartz got to Yahoo in mid-January and will not likely be the last, as the new CEO carves out her own path and chooses the team she wants.

Many Yahoos have told me, not for attribution and at all levels of the company, that they are bone-tired of the long-term struggle the company has been engaged in and want to move on, even in this weak economic climate.

Last week, this column reported the departures of Zimbra co-founder Satish Dharmaraj and marketing exec Eric Hadley, neither of which was necessarily due to Bartz’s arrival.

Now it’s Nash’s turn to say goodbye. According to Yahoo’s Web site, her duties were to lead its outward-facing efforts.

It reads, in part: “As a key member of the Yahoo! executive team, Nash will be responsible for the company’s worldwide communications efforts, including public and media relations, corporate reputation, corporate, financial and employee communications, and crisis and issues management.”

Nash came to Yahoo from the Gap, where she was the VP of global corporate communications. Previous to that, she worked at Charles Schwab (SCHW), KPMG and Transamerica Life.

With Yahoo earnings expected to be dismal when the company reports fourth-quarter earnings this Tuesday afternoon, new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is going to have to hang tough.

And she certainly seems capable of that. At her first all-hands meeting, Bartz (pictured here) said, according to one report others have since confirmed to BoomTown, that she would “drop-kick to f***ing Mars” employees who leak to the press.

That threat sent little shivers up BoomTown’s spine too, which is why it must have taken so long for her first-week missive to Yahoo (YHOO) staff worldwide to get to my inbox.

Well played, Ms. Bartz, well played. (Plus, I really am bad at football metaphors.)

But turnabout is also fair play. And that’s why I am redoubling my efforts to bring you up-to-date news from Yahoo under Bartz’s leadership, as ATD has done so obsessively during the reigns of ex-Yahoo CEOs Terry Semel and Jerry Yang (and, if you want to really date me, Tim Koogle).

In that spirit, this column broke the news last week that Zimbra founder Satish Dharmaraj and marketing exec Eric Hadley were leaving.

And the week before that Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock was swanning around Manhattan with Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer and Time Warner (TWX) CEO Jeff Bewkes.

More to come this week, for sure, as all eyes turns to Yahoo’s financial performance (which is no fault of Bartz’s, who’s just arrived but still has to deliver the news).

But until then, here’s that energetic memo Bartz sent out to Yahoo troops after her first week there.

From: Carol Bartz
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 3:12 PM
To: all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com
Subject: My First Friday

Carol

But it took a lot of guts for Yahoo President Sue Decker (pictured here) to resign immediately yesterday and without the usual polite waiting period that happens in most major corporate management shifts.

I am guessing Decker clearly knew that investor ire over her leadership and that of her boss, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, had made the duo radioactive. Yang had already said goodbye in November and now it was her turn.

It was an important move for Yahoo (YHOO), since questions of Decker’s continued presence would have definitely dragged down any excitement to be had about the announcement of new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz.

So, Decker–who has always been a clear-thinking analytical type more than a gut executive–made both the logical and emotional decision to leave the company she has worked at for nine years.

And, more importantly, to leave Bartz with the cleanest slate she possibly could.

Whatever you think of Decker’s leadership, it was a class move on her part and one that BoomTown admires, especially since it was probably very hard for such a rigorous person to walk away without leaving behind a success.

It would be nice, then, if the man who was also just as–if not much more–responsible for the disaster that has been Yahoo for too long would take a clue from Decker and Yang and head out too.

That would be Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock (pictured here), the leader who has largely escaped blame that has been massively heaped on both Yang and Decker.

But it was Bostock who was part of the supposed revival of Yahoo, who was a key player in the disastrous negotiations with Microsoft (MSFT) over its takeover attempt and who was has been pulling many of the key strings the entire time.

Thus, he needs to go too, because at this point, Yahoo has to declare that accountability matters and that it starts at the tippy-top.

Major investors certainly would not mind. “Everything he has promised has gone the other way,” said one about his encounters with Bostock. “I just don’t believe him anymore.”

Said a former Yahoo exec, echoing the sentiment of many I have talked to over the past weeks: “Jerry and Sue should be the ones to take responsibility for Yahoo’s decline, but Roy was right next to them all the way.”

So, while many could aim at Yang and Decker (or perhaps even former CEO Terry Semel) or the distraction of the Microsoft bid earlier in 2008 or now, the weakness in the economy for Yahoo’s woes, since he has been chairman, Bostock is just as responsible as anyone at at the top of Yahoo.

Yahoo shares have been cut in half since he took over as chairman a year ago, back to where they were when he joined the board in 2003.

You could also point to Yahoo’s morale crisis or the exodus of key talent or the declines in its key businesses or the company’s general lack of momentum as very solid reasons for kicking Bostock to the curb for taking so long to do anything about it.

BoomTown will not even bring up the $31 per share offer from Microsoft that Yahoo spurned, although Bostock never seems to tire of highhandedly laying all the blame for the mess at Microsoft’s feet alone.

While the departure of Bostock would probably be enough, I would say a lot of the longtime members of the board should also probably contemplate moving on, to make way for some fresh eyes on the board and to free Bartz to do what she wants without their meddling.

Given that several directors also wanted the CEO job, according to sources, the board will likely continue to be more bothersome than helpful.

While not the boldest pick by this largely ineffectual and slow-moving board, it has finally made a definitive move by picking Bartz and should now get well out of the way.

Because, unlike the Yahoo directors, Bartz cannot really be judged yet, and one must give her the benefit of the doubt and let her try to fix Yahoo in her own way.

She certainly has the experience as a seasoned tech veteran, from 14 years at Autodesk (ADSK), and she also has the goodwill of Silicon Valley.

Left to hire her own team and take advantage of the massive amount of talent that still miraculously exists at Yahoo, Bartz has every chance of reviving a company ripe with great assets.

That is, if Bostock–who led the search to hire her–would give her a truly great gift of the cleanest slate possible for Yahoo, by bidding her farewell and godspeed as he heads out the door.

It looks like Carol Bartz will be taking on the thankless role as new Yahoo CEO.

Sources close to the situation told BoomTown–which had first named the former Autodesk CEO the top pick last week–that Bartz (pictured here) has been approved for the job by the Yahoo board and has accepted it.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting the move.

The pick is one of the safest Yahoo (YHOO) could have made, which is typical for it, choosing an experienced and strong public company CEO, but one without a lot of experience in advertising or the Web 2.0 Internet.

Sources close to the CEO search said that the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s headhunter, Heidrick & Struggles, has told many that Yahoo would also be looking for a strong No. 2 with more Internet and product experience if a CEO with less online background was selected.

Candidates for that position are numerous.

That job is not likely to fall to its current incumbent, Yahoo President Sue Decker, although Bartz could choose to keep Decker, given her experience and depth of knowledge about Yahoo.

But it could be a little odd, too, if Decker stays, since she was also vying for the CEO job and was one of the top internal candidates.

But sources close to the Yahoo board said that many inside and outside the company would have reacted badly to a Decker appointment as CEO, given that she has been No. 2 to outgoing Yahoo CEO and Co-founder Jerry Yang.

The pair have presided over a decline in Yahoo’s business and an even deeper one of its stock.

Sources who have spoken to Decker said it is more likely she will leave the company, and had stayed this long out of loyalty to Yang.

Most controversially, some are concerned about Bartz’s possible closeness to Decker and Yang–Bartz serves on the Cisco (CSCO) board with Yang and the Intel (INTC) board with Decker–seeing the choice as an attempt by Yang to stay in power at Yahoo.

Yahoo’s board has also gotten a lot more rebuffs from outside execs than expected for the top spot, because of its major challenges. While rich in assets and online traffic, the company has suffered over the last year from a range of internal and external troubles.

In a reaction piece to the possibility of making Bartz the CEO of Yahoo I posted last week, the reaction was mixed, with some lauding it as an important move to steady the long troubled company, while others called it problematic for the Yahoo leader not to have a deep Web background.

One thing is sure: Bartz does know tech, unlike former CEO Terry Semel, who hailed from Hollywood. And she also knows how to run a company like clockwork, unlike Yang, who–while inspirational–has had a rocky tenure and has been considered weak in execution.

With an upcoming fourth-quarter results report on Jan. 27 likely to be a disaster, Bartz will have a lot on her plate, including working out a much expected search partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) and deciding what to do about the constipated deal to buy Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL.

And, oh yes, fix Yahoo’s troubled graphical ad business and weak morale!

Early investor response to Bartz has been muted, at best, despite her solid credentials.

Bartz, 60, is certainly an experienced and very well-regarded tech exec, with the talent to turn things around. She served as chairman, president and CEO for 14 years at the San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk, which makes computer-aided design software for engineers.

While there, Bartz presided over huge growth at Autodesk (ADSK), stepping down in April of 2006 to spend more time with her family, and has since served as its executive chairman.

She also put in stints at other big tech companies, including Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M (MMM).

According to her resume on Autodesk’s Web site, Bartz holds an honors degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin.

Bartz is also on the boards of a blue chip list of tech companies and organizations, including Intel, Cisco Systems, NetApp (NTAP), and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology.

She is also exactly the kind of serious, seasoned public company CEO with tech experience whom Yahoo’s board has told investors and others it is looking for, with skills to pull off mergers and think strategically.

But Bartz also was in charge of a more old-school kind of tech company and has less experience in the faster-moving Web environment that prevails now.

Although she toughed it out successfully, Bartz underwent difficult times during the Web 1.0 era, in fact, when investors were worried about Autodesk’s prospects in the online era.

Most critically, Bartz also has less advertising experience, which is Yahoo’s principal business.

In addition, Autodesk is half the size of Yahoo.

Nonetheless, she is well-liked in the tech community and has ties to key companies Yahoo must deal with, including Microsoft.

There it was again–like the gnarly ghost of Christmas past–in the Los Angeles Times this week. But this time Lloyd Braun wasn’t going to take it anymore.

The object of his ire was dropped right in the middle of a blog post on how Yahoo was “reversing its Hollywoodification” with–egads–no more reserved parking spaces for top execs at its Santa Monica offices.

The Times said the new rule “signals a stark new era of austerity that overshadows the elimination of the last vestiges of the corporate culture war spurred by the hiring of former Warner Bros. chieftain Terry Semel and ABC’s Braun.”

Knock, knock, L.A. Times! Because that war is actually still raging at Yahoo (YHOO)–although the parking spaces carry little symbolic weight anymore at the company, which has much bigger problems to solve these days.

But even more unusually, the piece also abruptly dropped in old allegations the newspaper had included in a devastating story in November of 2005 by Chris Gaither about Braun and Yahoo’s media push at the time, titled “Can Yahoo Sign on to Hollywood?”

It was noted in the post as an aside:

(Braun also converted a conference room with a patio into his personal office and requested a corporate jet for the Santa Monica office. Oh, and there was the time he reportedly took an umbrella without paying for it from the Yahoo store on a rainy day and then asked the clerk who requested payment: ‘Do you know who I am?’ He later explained that he just wanted to make sure the clerk knew he was good for it. But we digress).”

Digress is right, because it turns out, the bulk of those juicy anecdotes about him in the new blog post and the old story actually don’t check out, after extensive reporting BoomTown had done previously and this week too, talking to a range of key execs at the company at the time.

Thus, when I saw the Times post this week, I contacted Braun (pictured here) and sent him the link. He quickly responded via email:

“I am not an umbrella thief–and I promise I never will be. I never once asked for a corporate jet. I was and continue to be a big fan of Southwest Airlines. And I certainly never engaged in any kind of office construction while at Yahoo.”

Braun–who now runs his own online and traditional media production company called BermanBraun in L.A. with Gail Berman–also said he had immediately asked the Times for a correction of the blog post, as he says he did three years ago when the original story ran.

Times Business editor Sallie Hofmeister, whom I also contacted (but who was not in charge at the time of the 2005 piece), said the Times was looking into the situation and wrote in an email to me:

“The story we published in 2005 was a reflection of the sentiments within Yahoo at the time. We worked very closely with Yahoo on the story, so the company’s top management had every opportunity to challenge our reporting. After the story ran three years ago, neither Yahoo nor Lloyd requested a correction and no correction ran. What you hear from people today probably would be different than what they would have said three years ago. Lloyd is long gone and so are the tensions of entertainment’s invasion at Yahoo. People’s recollections also change. Enemies then are friends today.

“As for blog post, we strive for accuracy and when people in our stories take issue with our coverage, we take them very seriously.”

So do I.

Thus, it is long past time to set the record straight and put to bed a fable of raging Hollywood high-handedness–with too-good-to-be-true-because-they’re-not, clichéd lines like, “Do you know who I am?” and filched umbrellas.

Why bother looking into it at all these years hence? Well, for one, it is just not fair for inaccuracies about Braun to remain, complete with a never-die life on the Web and a nagging perception that he was some digital version of Ari Gold from “Entourage.”

But, more importantly, the struggles at Yahoo back then have everything to do with what is going on now. And that is a company culture at war with itself about what it is and should be.

I have, in fact, been collecting string on Braun’s alleged escapades for years, mostly from Yahoos. I was fascinated since, like a game of telephone gone awry, those who worked with Braun closely and would know, told a different story from some of those in Sunnyvale, who might not.

That did not stop many there from telling various stories about Braun, almost none of which were accurate when I actually followed up.

Because of that, I started to look very closely at Yahoo to figure out why such fallacies went unchecked about him and later, about an ever longer string of departed execs.

But let’s start with what was clearly true in that 2005 piece, which began with another parking kerfuffle and a hissy-fit email from a new Yahoo exec, recruited from Fox, threatening to tow “someone” who parked in his assigned place.

It was a classic opening, trying to show in an anecdote the clash that was going on at Yahoo at the time.

And it was an apt one. There was indeed a lot of resistance to the decision by then-CEO Terry Semel, who was pushing Yahoo as a media company.

To do it, Semel hired Braun–a highly successful Hollywood figure (think being key to initiating and developing “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” and you have a good idea of his stature)–to pull it off at a big new and splashy office complex in Santa Monica.

Thus, the lines were drawn by some at Yahoo HQ, where execs mostly work in cubicles and where a we’re-all-equal ethos prevailed among some of the techie old guard especially, at least in their skewed perceptions of themselves.

(Guess what? They do work in cubicles, but some Yahoos in Sunnyvale are more equal than others.)

Still, back in 2005, it was easy to make an ebullient, brash and sometimes abrasive entertainment exec like Braun into a tidy little caricature and mock the idea of his task.

And who was hired to make new and innovative kinds of online programming hits, much as Braun had on television so well.

There is no doubt there were tensions. The Times story began focusing on the level of distrust, which in my estimation–I also was watching Yahoo closely at the time–was mostly from the tech side and mostly without interface with those in Los Angeles.

But, as Gaither noted correctly:

Yahoo’s ability to blend the cultures, milking each for what it does best, will be key to reaching its ultimate goal: to build on its success as the most visited destination on the Web by leveraging the links between content and the technology used to create and deliver it.”

Unfortunately, the Times story then launched into a series of really broad clichés about Hollywood versus Silicon Valley, using the typical “conspicuously expensive car” in LaLaLand versus the “energy-saving” one in Geekville.

(Again, my experience is that the tech folks always seem to have Porsches too, much as many Hollywood slickies drive Prius hybrids.)

The story went on to talk about the arrival of Semel, whom Gaither reported was seen as not as Hollywood at first as was expected by some wary Yahoos. He then got to Braun, who apparently was.

That’s where the problems come in, first by making it seem as if Braun was responsible for the pricey lease for the new Santa Monica offices at the Colorado Center.

Actually, according to top execs like Dan Rosensweig–Braun’s direct boss–as well as sources close to Semel and many other execs involved, that facility’s planning was directed largely from Sunnyvale, as most such projects are.

Braun did give an interview when the lease was announced, but was in no way the driver of the building’s renovation, which was actually being done by the company Yahoo rented the space from.

Next, came an assertion that the execs in Santa Monica got “Hollywood-style perks,” pointing out that Braun had “converted a conference room with a patio into his personal office. He also reserved a parking space close to the elevators for his car.”

Well, Braun did have a reserved space, which was no real crime to my mind, and which was actually not particularly close to the elevators.

How do I know? I have walked Braun to his car in the parking garage, which is about as nonluxurious as it gets, as opposed to Yahoo HQ, which used valets.

More importantly, Braun converted no office space and was assigned a temporary office elsewhere during the renovation, according to a panoply of execs and workers at Yahoo, such as Rosensweig, Jeff Weiner, Scott Moore and sources close to Semel.

It was a good office–after all, Braun was the boss of the Media Group.

And while both offices did have patios, the large outdoor spaces were also kind of dingy, especially compared to the manicured lawns of Yahoo HQ. And the patios were accessible to many parts of the floors, as I noticed on my many visits.

(As an added note, after the renovations were complete, Braun’s official office was not by any means fancy and was very standard in its drone-like look.)

The worst part was the next line: “Yahoo’s top executives drew the line when Braun asked for a corporate jet,” which was followed by a stunning quote by Semel.

It read:

The reaction was basically, ‘No,’ said Semel, who does not ask Yahoo to foot the bill when he flies to Northern California in his own private plane. ‘A lot of the more traditional media companies are doing their best to scale back on some of the perks and put the investment into the products and the consumers.’”

But, top Yahoo execs have uniformly told me over the years and this week that such a request from Braun never happened.

What was actually occurring, again directed by Yahoo’s Sunnyvale HQ, was an analysis about whether the company should start a charter air shuttle for the many engineers in its Burbank facility, working on its then-Panama search project, and employees at its growing Santa Monica facility.

There could be up to 20 workers going back and forth north daily, and the Southwest Airline bills were getting high.

Thus, a look-see to determine if an L.A.-Sunnyvale shuttle for everyone was needed. But it was conceived as a less-than-high-end plane, essentially a puddle-jumper that left at 7 a.m. and came back at 7 p.m.

Braun thought it was a good idea to examine and told Rosensweig, who was in charge of looking at the charter idea. But Braun was not part of the consideration of it.

Ultimately, Semel nixed the idea as too costly, and Braun did not object.

Why Semel seemed to tell Gaither that is curious. But a person familiar with Semel’s thinking said he was only referring to an company shuttle for everyone and not a corporate jet just for Braun and his minions, as the story opaquely implied.

“The discussions over the charter had nothing to do with Lloyd,” said the person. “And he did not ever ask for a corporate jet ever.”

Rosensweig, Weiner and several other top execs at the highest echelons–many of whom did not get along with Braun–support this version, on the record.

“I never saw anything out of the ordinary or Lloyd playing by Hollywood standards,” said Vince Broady, who worked for Braun, after being brought to Yahoo by Rosensweig. “I mean, Lloyd is a colorful character, which makes people notice him, but the idea that he was more difficult than anyone else was overblown.”

There is no doubt why Braun would attract attention–he is very noticeable and had a long and bruising career in Hollywood, with lots of stories of his dishing it out. He’s a genuine character, indeed, but not really that unusual compared to others in the entertainment sector, except perhaps to some at Yahoo.

Thus, I have no doubt, though, that such a story went around that Braun did desire a jet of his own and that Gaither heard it told, just like this most incredible of anecdotes in the piece.

The infamous umbrella!

Here is what Gaither wrote:

Braun’s long career in Hollywood has led to some awkward moments and misunderstandings inside Yahoo–and provided gossipy fodder for critics eager to cast him as a technically illiterate egomaniac.

According to one widely recounted tale, on a rainy day Braun took an umbrella from the Yahoo merchandise store without paying for it. Then, when asked for payment, he reportedly berated the store clerk, asking, ‘Do you know who I am?’ In fact, Braun’s representatives say, it was an innocent question to ensure that the clerk knew he was good for the money.

A Yahoo spokeswoman said the umbrella ultimately ended up in a pool of umbrellas available to all employees.”

I could not, obviously, find the clerk to whom Braun allegedly said this. But I can say that there are free baskets of umbrellas for staffers all over Yahoo, and top execs like Braun can also buy them at company stores and just use their names as part of an account system.

And while I have no proof, the use of such a clearly hoary Hollywood phrase–“Do you know who I am?”–seems like it was simply made up to me by critics bent on making it a much better story than it was.

To be fair, Gaither does portray it as a “tale” that was circulating around Yahoo. But that probably should have alerted him that it was a very tall one indeed and not very reliable–a kind of digital urban legend rather than an actual event.

That’s why I would not have used it, without a much more explicit explanation that it was more an example of the tensions at Yahoo between the media and tech units than it was reality.

Perhaps worst of all was the impact of the piece, which forever cemented Braun’s reputation as a Hollywood-gone-wild exec.

Most interesting was that, according to both the Times and Yahoo sources, the company complained about the tone of the piece, but never asked for a correction.

Why? Sources familiar with Semel’s thinking said that he and PR execs thought it would cause more attention to focus on Braun, if they contested the piece, and it was better to just let it go.

It was probably a bad decision, given it was in the L.A. Times, which had a lot of credibility.

And, indeed, the high-profile Braun was later slapped silly by Valleywag, as the Times piece kept circulating within Yahoo. By the next year, Braun became one of the gossip blog’s first targets.

Valley–which knows a good character when it sees one and likes to poke and prod many, many such Silicon Valley-linked figures in mocking glee (with varying levels of accuracy)–even had a countdown to when Braun would be fired.

Because of this kind of thing, Braun said he tried to get Gaither to take another look at the stories about him, and met with Times editors to get them to make corrections.

The Times said Braun never formally asked for a correction and instead just complained about the story. To me, that is the same thing, but I am not privy to the Times’s internal corrections process, and Hofmeister declined to elaborate.

In any case, looking back, Braun told me this week the lack of support from Semel and Yahoo to fight the story was hugely disappointing and was the moment he realized he felt he would probably have to leave Yahoo.

Eventually, the feeling was mutual, as tensions escalated even further after the article appeared.

Braun–who had a particularly rocky relationship with Rosensweig, which is now patched up–was eventually pushed out in late 2006, after Yahoo moved away from its media focus to drill down in search.

That turned out to be a bad move, as Yahoo got its head handed to it by Google in search efforts. And it has since seriously been in tailspin in the wake of a series of jarring events.

Those include: the sudden departure of Semel mid-2007; the appointment of Co-Founder Jerry Yang as CEO; a painful public struggle to redefine Yahoo; a botched takeover fight with Microsoft (MSFT); a messy proxy battle with Carl Icahn; a collapsed search partnership with Google (GOOG); a decimated stock price; a scarily declining graphical advertising market; wrenching layoffs; and the stepping down of Yang and the thus-far uncompleted search for a new CEO.

You get the idea.

More importantly, with the cutting off of its more vaunted media aspirations, Yahoo closed the door on possible innovative directions that could have made it more competitive now, as it continues to struggle to define itself.

One of Yahoo’s great strengths–and it still is–has been its content properties, which are the most popular, by and large, on the Web. Instead, stinging from the article and the fallout of it, the company retreated from pushing forward aggressively in media.

Had it not, I can imagine a host of stuff it might have done.

And, ironically, Braun is now working on an online project with Microsoft, a celebrity site that will debut early next year and use a lots of the concepts he worked on at Yahoo.

In the 2005 piece, Gaither quoted Yahoo exec Jeff Weiner as saying, in a Yin-Yang concept: “We’re often asked, “Is Yahoo a media company or a tech company?”

Sadly, that question never got resolved then and still has not today.

It almost makes one nostalgic for stolen umbrellas, controversial parking places, questionable patios and wrangling over corporate jets.

Almost.

Yahoo is losing yet another top executive–Toby Coppel, its EVP and managing director of Europe and Canada, is set to announce today that he is stepping down.

The departure, which has been in the works for months, is not related to the recent news that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is also relinquishing his job as soon as the company completes its search for another CEO.

Coppel’s job covers the major Western European markets (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia), as well as Canada, for Yahoo (YHOO).

His successor will be Rich Riley, who is currently SVP of Europe’s Advertiser & Publisher Group, which put him in charge of all revenues for the division. Riley, who came to Yahoo a decade ago, was previously the head of Yahoo’s Small & Medium Business Group in the U.S.

Coppel, who came to Yahoo with former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel in 2001, has run European operations for Yahoo for 18 months. And most of his time has been spent restructuring and making massive cuts.

The unit will have about one-third of the people as when Coppel arrived by the first quarter, after the current round of layoffs. And, if you include Yahoo’s sale of the comparison-shopping site Kelkoo last week, the cuts total 45 percent of its former size.

Coppel also shepherded the move of Yahoo’s European HQ to Switzerland from higher-priced London. Most of its top managers are now located there, although London remains an important Yahoo outpost, since it is the largest online ad market in Europe.

Coppel will remain with Yahoo until the end of the first quarter to ensure a smooth transition. He told BoomTown in an interview that his future plans are undetermined, except to welcome his third child into the world very soon.

“I have been transitioning our European business, restructuring it and making it stronger, as Yahoo is moving to product development on a global platform,” said Coppel. “While there is more work, there is now a strong team in place, focused on going forward and it needs to spread its wings.”

Coppel noted, although a lot of his tenure was occupied by restructuring the European unit, that “we have taken display advertising market share from MSN, AOL and other competitors in almost every one of our European markets in 2008 and we grew our Canadian business over 50 percent this year.”

And, indeed, Yahoo’s online display advertising business is stronger in Europe, although subject to the same vicious economic downturn that has hit the U.S. market.

In addition, Yahoo–and everyone else–lags well behind Google (GOOG) in the more lucrative search business in Europe, even more so than in the U.S., forcing competitors like Yahoo to streamline to compete.

That has meant layoffs, but also re-architecting Yahoo’s product development toward a global model to cut costs and also getting rid of some noncore assets like Kelkoo.

It was revealed last week that Kelkoo was sold to a U.K.-based private equity firm called Jamplant, at a reported discount from what Yahoo paid for it–$576 million–in 2004.

Now that all these kinds of major changes were made, Coppel said, it seemed a good time for him to go too.

“My value add-was not what it was going forward,” said Coppel, who noted that several layers of management in Europe had been collapsed in his tenure. “If we are streamlining and we mean it, it has to also start at the top.”

In fact, my single favorite quote came from one Yahoo staffer, who noted that while the massive change that will come with the replacement of Yang–who co-founded the company in the mid-1990s–will involve even more turmoil than the beleaguered company has already gone through, Yahoo remains resilient.

“You can kick this dog, but it still barks,” said the exec.

Oh, there will be plenty of Yahoo-kicking still, but that sentiment is dead-on.

The employee meant that Yahoo (YHOO) is still one of the most trafficked sites on the Web, has some of the Internet’s most valuable digital properties (from the Flickr photo service to its massive communications assets to its leading content sites), was an important buy in online advertising and still makes more profits than most companies in the sector.

And, indeed, that is all true, although Yahoo has been howling, more than anything, over the last year as it has ricocheted from crisis to crisis–from the exodus of key employees to the botched-on-both-sides takeover attempt by Microsoft to the plummeting stock price to the collapsed deal to do a search advertising partnership with Google.

Here are three key points people have made over and over to me:

1. IT IS ALL JERRY YANG’S FAULT, BUT HE IS A NICE GUY

This thread centers around the lack of strong leadership by Yang, who took over at the company in June of 2007, after former CEO Terry Semel stepped down suddenly in the wake of a very bad annual meeting.

The major gripes: Yang should have sold to Microsoft (MSFT) at $31 a share when he had the chance; Yang should have not dawdled about making major changes and cost cuts; Yang should have made a merger deal with Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL faster; Yang should not have made a deal with Google (GOOG) so quickly; Yang and all of Yahoo cannot make a decision to save its life.

And, most of all, Yang was not the right CEO for Yahoo, even though his heart was in the right place and bled purple, Yahoo’s color.

“Jerry was in over his head,” said a source close to Yahoo’s board. “He is a really nice man and perhaps that is where the problems are.”

Now, all these points are valid ones–he did dawdle a lot–although Yang does have a defense for each of them.

Such as: Microsoft was never truly serious about a bid; the problems at Yahoo required a major overhaul and not a quick fix; the AOL deal has a lot of integration issues and pricing is hard with Yahoo’s stock in the basement; Google always does what Google wants and what’s good for Google.

By the way, Yang and Yahoo have always had a decision-making problem, and Yang is a nice guy. Not that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the latter, but the former is pretty much its biggest problem.

2. JERRY YANG IS TAKING THE FALL FOR SUE DECKER/ROY BOSTOCK/TERRY SEMEL/GLOBAL WARMING

A new favorite theory seems to center around the idea that Yang did not deserve this kind of criticism solely. While to my mind, the buck always stops with the CEO, President Sue Decker was the one in charge of all of Yahoo’s main initiatives, Bostock is Yang’s–well–boss as chairman of the board, and former CEO Semel did leave Yang with a lot of fires to put out.

Yang gets a pass on global warming, except that he should change his light bulbs to more efficient ones, but so should we all.

This thread also has some valid points–failure does have many fathers, the cliché notwithstanding. And there is plenty of blame to go around.

But Decker does work for Yang and, while she has had leadership issues and will likely as not leave, he is the one in charge of her. As for Semel, he was good for a while, not so good for a while and should have left sooner.

But that and also management problems have always ultimately been for the board to deal with, and Yahoo’s directors have been a spectacular failure all along in protecting shareholder value and making sure the company was on the right track.

I would single out Bostock in this regard–he was deeply involved in the Microsoft deal and has been slow to move and arrogant in tone. His performance at the annual meeting this year, treating shareholders like they were irksome teenagers for complaining, was appalling.

“I have really been critical about Yang’s and Decker’s performance,” said one large Yahoo investor. “But Bostock told me to my face he was going to do something about it more times than I can count.”

So if Yang has the guts to step down–and it does take guts–Bostock should man up and follow him right out of the board room.

3. YAHOO CAN STILL SHINE

This is entirely true. Yahoo is one of the few jewels of the Internet landscape and has plenty of juice left in it.

“It’s like the New York Yankees, they have a great team but might need a little pitching,” said one Internet player who closely follows Yahoo.

I am not so sure sports analogies are the best way to describe the hole of perception that Yahoo has to dig itself out of, but that’s pretty accurate.

As that great Yankee Yogi Berra (pictured above) once said: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

And, no surprise, he is the No. 1 choice of most inside and outside Yahoo (YHOO) in the wake of the news late yesterday that current CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang is stepping down.

And why not? Chernin has the right resume: Experienced at running large and complex organizations; savvier than most in media about the Internet; able to make the kinds of dramatic decisions needed; and, perhaps best of all, signaling–via the Los Angeles Times–just this past week that he was open to leaving the powerful media and entertainment conglomerate for something new.

Well, Yahoo would certainly be new for Chernin, in terms of a corporate cleanup challenge, especially compared to figuring out how to make bank on plush toys from “The Simpsons.”

And, while the risks are many, if Chernin (pictured here) managed to turn around Yahoo, he could make a huge fortune too, given Yahoo shares have languished of late, much in the same way they did when former CEO Terry Semel came to Yahoo from Hollywood in 2001.

But it’s not altogether clear whether Chernin would actually leave his powerful perch at News Corp. (NWS) — which owns Dow Jones and owns this Web site. He has been ensconced there for a dozen years, building a huge reputation as a sharp exec (No, Peter, I am not kissing up, as I think Yahoo would wear even you down very, very quickly).

That’s even though many note he is not likely to take over as CEO from its iconic leader, Rupert Murdoch. The media mogul is widely expected to favor one of his own children to lead News Corp. next.

And the 57-year-old Chernin already makes close to $30 million in his current job, which is definitely challenging.

And, although Chernin has been involved in the News Corp.-owned MySpace and has had success backing the Hulu online video site, it is not nearly as hard as the five-year turnaround quagmire (plus no fabulous media mogul perks either) that Yahoo could turn out to be.

In addition, privately to other News Corp. execs, Chernin has regularly pooh-poohed a move to a digital company, even though he is always on the short list for a lot of big Internet jobs — such as the long-unfilled post as digital head at Microsoft (MSFT) more recently.

So, who else to take over from Yang, who will return to his job as Chief Yahoo after stepping down from the company as soon a search for a replacement CEO is successful?

Well, here is BoomTown’s own shortish list, based on asking a wide range of people inside and outside Yahoo, all of whom are important digital players in their own right.

INSIDE YAHOO

Sue Decker:

The current president of Yahoo is certainly being “considered” for the job, which is a polite term for not really being considered at all. While Decker is an intelligent and thoughtful exec, like a politician with a record, she has had her hand on the operating tiller at Yahoo for too long not to get deservedly blamed for its current situation.

In addition, she is radioactive to big investors, who have told the Yahoo board in no uncertain terms that she is a nonstarter.

Maggie Wilderotter:

The former Microsoft exec, who has also been a public company CEO, is an interesting idea floated by some, who think the Yahoo board might turn to one of its own directors, as a short-term solution to stabilize Yahoo.

Wilderotter has been much focused, said several Yahoo execs, on cost-cutting at Yahoo and certainly is not as tarnished, being a more current board member. But she is a largely unknown quantity in the Internet space and, most importantly, at Yahoo.

John Chapple:

The former CEO of Nextel is one of the two board members (former media Frank Biondi Jr. is the other) recently picked by Carl Icahn, when the activist shareholder was admitted on the board as part of the proxy fight settlement.

Chapple has, sources said, been conducting chats with Yahoo execs lately, perhaps as a way to get a lay of the land. If he got the job, it would be clear Icahn had won his Pyrrhic victory (and personal financial defeat) against Yang.

OUTSIDE YAHOO

Dan Rosensweig:

The very funny, but brash, former Yahoo COO is definitely a favorite within Yahoo’s ranks, except for those who don’t like him. But it’s clear Rosensweig does know and love Yahoo, is close to Yang and, ironically, enjoys a tight relationship with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who also wanted him for the digital head job.

Also, Rosensweig, who does have operating chops, has gotten some much needed time away from Yahoo, as a partner at the tony media investment firm, the Quadrangle Group.

Meg Whitman:

Another dreamy CEO choice, except she has already been a big company CEO at eBay (EBAY), has proved her mettle in building it to a powerhouse–despite the online auction site’s currently harder times–and has the giant fortune to prove it.

And, oh yes, she is likely to be using that pile of cash to run for governor of California, on the Republican ticket.

Jon Miller/Ross Levinsohn:

The Bobbsey Twins of the Internet, the pair are now having a very good time running their own investment company, the Velocity Group.

But, aside from some questioning whether he can make the quick decisions needed at Yahoo, Miller (pictured here on the right), the former head of AOL, does not want to leave his New York home and cannot take any job anyway until his noncompete with Time Warner (TWX) runs out in March.

And former Fox Interactive Media head Levinsohn likes Los Angeles, and probably is too fast a personality for Yahoo (his going there would be a shock to its system, but would be endlessly entertaining to me personally).

Tim Armstrong:

The top ad exec at Google (GOOG) certainly is an interesting idea, although has little of the product experience needed to run Yahoo. But he is a well-respected advertising figure–where Yahoo needs to shine–and could do well with a lot of strong execs under him.

He is also not on a CEO path at Google–paging, Larry Page!–and could be interested in proving he could run a company on his own.

Kevin Johnson:

The former Microsoft exec was supposed to be running Yahoo, if he and Ballmer pulled off their takeover attempt earlier this year. They did not, and Johnson then left Microsoft to run Juniper Networks (JNPR) in Silicon Valley, right up the road from Yahoo, in fact.

But Johnson is likely subject to a noncompete by Microsoft and a strong contract at Juniper too. Still, a very sharp exec, he definitely has the operating, political, technological and digital skills to take on Yahoo. Also, ironically, he and Yang really get along well and like each other, despite the takeover battle.

Of course, there are a lot of other ideas: Disney (DIS) online exec Steve Wadsworth; the outside-the-box choice of former Procter & Gamble (PG) marketing wizard Jim Stengel; Microsoft digital exec Yusuf Mehdi; CBS (CBS) digital head Quincy Smith (whose hyperactive dealmaking would likely lead to a mutant merger between CBS and Yahoo); and former Cisco (CSCO) and current Joost CEO Mike Volpi.

Please post suggestions below or, better yet, send tips to me at here.

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Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down from his job as CEO as soon as the board finds a replacement for him, in what sources close to the situation call a joint decision by him and the company’s directors.

Yahoo (YHOO) will announce the move within the next hour. [UPDATED: Yahoo confirms the move in its official press release.]

But, in a memo to Yahoo’s employees, obtained by BoomTown, Yang confirmed the pending departure, writing: “…we believe the time is now right to transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level.”

Yahoo has hired Heidrick & Struggles, the well-known executive search firm, to evaluate candidates, both internally and externally.

After a replacement is found, which the company hopes will be quickly, sources said, Yang will resume his former title as Chief Yahoo and will also remain on the Yahoo board.

While did-he-walk-or-was-he-pushed speculation will no doubt run rampant, sources said Yang already has and will play an important role in the search for his replacement.

Sources close to the board expect the choice will end up being an outsider and is not likely to be current Yahoo President Sue Decker, although she is being considered for the job.

But both she and Yang have been closely affiliated with each other as the company has struggled to right itself after a tumultuous year and its stock price has plummeted.

Yahoo shares closed today at $10.63 after trading at historic lows for a while and giving the company a valuation of only $14.7 billion.

While Yahoo’s board has some execs in mind to become CEO, obvious candidates include News Corp. (NWS) COO Peter Chernin, as well as former AOL head Jon Miller, former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman, Google (GOOG) ad exec Tim Armstrong, former Fox Interactive exec Ross Levinsohn and former Yahoo COO Dan Rosensweig (who is currently with the Quadrangle Group).

BoomTown would also throw in former Microsoft top exec Kevin Johnson, now CEO of Juniper Networks (JNPR), and who led the software giant’s abandoned takeover bid against Yahoo earlier this year.

According to sources, both Yang and the board have been discussing the move for months, although Yang has been saying quite explicitly in public that he was going to stay in place to see through the many changes he has made in his 16-month tenure.

In a recent interview with me, in fact, Yang said about his determination to lead:

“In this uncertain environment, I think I am absolutely the right person. Times like this require a leader who really understands this company and its customers, and I think I do. The world is a different place today than even a month ago and I think I am the best person to guide Yahoo through this volatile time.”

In fact, it has always been a volatile time for Yang at Yahoo. He took over suddenly last June from former CEO Terry Semel, whose departure also came after Yahoo’s struggles became increasingly apparent.

Things only got worse for Yang, due to both his own and previous management missteps and also massive external forces, including a hostile takeover attempt by Microsoft (MSFT), which was soon followed by a proxy fight by activist shareholder Carl Icahn.

The Microsoft bid–which was $31 a share–was abandoned, and Icahn dropped the proxy fight, with Icahn joining the board with two other directors he had handpicked.

And while Microsoft has been interested in a deal related to Yahoo’s search business, its CEO, Steve Ballmer, has categorically ruled out a renewed bid.

Yahoo also saw its search business decline in the face of dominance in the market by Google (GOOG), which had ironically started its then-nascent business on Yahoo as its search partner.

Worse still, Yahoo’s strong graphical ad business has suffered badly in the midst of the current economic meltdown.

There has also been an exodus of major executives over the last year, along with recently announced layoffs of 10 percent of the company, which are set to take place Dec. 10.

In addition, Yahoo’s controversial search ad deal with Google collapsed and its talks to merge with Time Warner (TWX) online unit AOL have dragged on.

With all this, sources close to the company said that both Yang and the board felt the company needed another leader to take it to the next level and complete the turnaround efforts Yang has been trying to pull off.

“It was time for someone else,” said one source close to the board.

More, obviously, to come…

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Is it just me or does the dire situation of Grizabella the Glamour Cat in the musical “Cats” remind you a little bit too much of what has been going on with Yahoo (YHOO) and its CEO Jerry Yang over the last year?

Thus, BoomTown has decided to make that scraggly cat’s anthem Yahoo’s for its annual meeting tomorrow, because the similarities are simply startling.

(Grizabella’s signature song, “Memory,” is even wildly purplish, just like the Internet company!)

And more:

A little raggedy around the edges? Check!

(Daylight
See the dew on the sunflower
And a rose that is fading
Roses whither away
Like the sunflower
I yearn to turn my face to the dawn
I am waiting for the day…)

Slinking around the digital stage in a serious state of malaise? Double check!

(Midnight
Not a sound from the pavement
Has the moon lost her memory?
She is smiling alone
In the lamplight
The withered leaves collect at my feet
And the wind begins to moan)

Disdained by other Jellicle geeks (rrrrooowr!)? Hey, this is getting eerie!

(Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again)

Using the big, wide, teary-eyed look to gain sympathy? It totally worked on Larry and Sergey!

(Every streetlamp
Seems to beat a fatalistic warning
Someone mutters
And the streetlamp gutters
And soon it will be morning)

Desperately hoping to be picked by Old Deuteronomy to be the “cat who can now be reborn and come back to a different Jellicle life”? Yes, please, except only if the old feline is Carl Icahn and that life is as a division of MSN!

(Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn’t give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin)

Beset by more bad news than good (today a California assemblyman asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to investigate the Yahoo-Google online ad outsourcing deal, piling onto other ongoing federal look-sees)? I am afraid so.

(Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
The streetlamp dies, another night is over
Another day is dawning)

Singing a big moving number about revival and renewal for those in the cheap seats tomorrow at the meeting being held at San Jose’s Fairmont Hotel? I can only fervently pray all night.

(Touch me
It’s so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You’ll understand what happiness is)

And, if successful, rising to skyward into a glittery light on a big cloud of fake smoke, approximating I-am-still-not-sure-what? Well, no, but maybe Microsoft (MSFT) might be impressed enough to make another bid at $33.

(Look
A new day has begun)

One can only hope, because if not, the meeting–now minus a proxy fight from activist investor Icahn–could be dullish, as it was last year when former CEO Terry Semel presided.

Back then, aside from some disgruntled shareholders complaining about Yahoo’s performance and low stock price (about $23, compared with $20 now), it was way too calm, although Semel was gone by the next week and Yang was in.

A replay of my video of last year’s event is on deck for tomorrow. But, until then, here is the incomparable Elaine Page singing “Memory” in the original London production (which I saw in 1981, while traveling during college):

It is not exactly news that influential major Yahoo investor Gordon Crawford (pictured here) was displeased with Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, given the amount of money Crawford must have lost by now, backing the troubled Internet company.

While BoomTown referenced it in a more veiled way last week, the New York Post yesterday reported that the Capital Research Global Investors honcho was considering withholding votes from Yang and others on its current board at Yahoo’s annual meeting Friday to show his unhappiness publicly.

More to the point, I would assume the move is to perhaps prompt others to ponder whether Yang should remain in his current job for much longer.

What effect that will have on Yang, though, will probably be negligible–except for perhaps feeling badly, as he has great regard for Crawford–because I think he has never been more determined to stay put.

In fact, I predict a series of partnerships and high-profile announcements–starting this week ahead of the annual meeting–to give Yahoo and Yang the image of momentum they dearly need.

While many kibitz over Yang’s fate and wonder who activist investor Carl Icahn is dreaming of replacing him with once he gets on board (AOL’s Jon Miller? Google’s Tim Armstrong?) at the company, I think Yang is aiming at finally getting the chance to prove he can run Yahoo without the Sturm and Drang of a hostile takeover hanging over him.

Yang (pictured here) clearly thinks he deserves more time to turn around Yahoo’s core businesses and improve employee morale.

And he will probably get it, if he wants to stay, because there is actually no one who can effectively oust him, until, that is, Yahoo (YHOO) stock drops to the mid-teens based on troublesome future financial signals.

That could come if the Google (GOOG) search-ad outsourcing deal does not pan out as well as expected, for example, especially in the current economic downturn, or if Yang cannot hang onto the talent he has left to work with.

But all these chickens, should they come home to roost, are at least six to nine months away, the same amount of time Yang has been caught in Yahoo’s current Twilight Zone of mess.

Of course, due to all that, Yang’s tenure has been particularly rocky, almost since he took over in a rush from former CEO Terry Semel.

It was at last year’s board meeting on June 12 that Yang told those assembled that he had no interest in filling the then-open CTO slot, even jokingly saying he preferred to play golf.

Of course, he was in the CEO seat within a week, part of some still-mysterious moves that got Semel out and Yang in.

Does it feel like 134 years since then, or is it just me?

It certainly must feel like a long time to Yang, although he seems only to have gotten more emboldened throughout this whole circus, made up largely of what feels like an endless series of freak acts.

Such hijinks are a nightmare to mannered investors like Crawford, who frowns on such behavior from all sides and tries to convince the leadership of companies he invests in to act with more realism and less emotion.

Too bad the Yahoo situation has been a soap opera from the start, which is definitely not what Crawford likes.

I wrote about the troubled relationship between Crawford and Yahoo when the threat of a proxy fight by Icahn was still looming.

Sources then told me that Crawford was considering backing Icahn, who is not exactly his first choice. But his dissatisfaction with Yahoo leadership was by then running very deep.

I also posted, for Yang’s benefit, an excerpt from my second book about how the normally polite, erudite and calm Crawford had finally had enough with AOL Time Warner’s (TWX) Steve Case and helped give him the heave-ho many years ago.

Crawford’s Capital Research Global Investors fund–one of two separately managed at Capital Research & Management–owns 6.5 percent of Yahoo, according to recent filings. (Capital World Investors, which is not run by Crawford, owns 9.8 percent.)

Thus, when he wants to, Crawford can wield a mighty cudgel–and a vote of “no confidence” by withholding votes, especially such a big stake, would clearly look bad for Yang, even if it were largely a symbolic move.

But bad does not mean fatal, and it could be, once again, that Yang will live to fight yet another day.

Jeff Weiner (pictured here), as BoomTown reported in a story broken by BoomTown Tuesday and also yesterday, will be leaving Yahoo (YHOO) to become an entrepreneur in residence at both Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

But, despite a lot of speculation on the subject by sites like TechCrunch (whose curiously petulant lifting of actual reporting done by others–in this case, BoomTown–without any attribution is fast approaching pathetic), let’s try some more actual reporting:

Sources at the company said that Weiner will not likely be replaced as Network division head by one of his four direct reports.

Those execs are: Front Door and Network Services’ Tapan Bhat, Brad Garlinghouse, who heads Yahoo’s communications and communities arenas, Media Group head Scott Moore and Yahoo Search’s Vish Makhijani.

Instead, sources at the company think much of Weiner’s organization could be headed by Hilary Schneider (pictured here), who is EVP Global Partner Solutions, in order to better align Yahoo’s ad revenue-producing units with its products, software, search and services side.

Not having those responsible for selling ads in close sync with, for example, new content or software initiatives has produced a level of frustration with executive ranks at the company.

The setup would create more of a global product organization, with more integrated sales and product development.

“It would be nice to have sales in the room now, as we develop services, instead of totally separate,” said one exec at Yahoo.

Whatever the resulting organization, Weiner’s departure gives President Sue Decker the ability to more dramatically rejigger Yahoo’s top echelons to better focus the company on its stated objectives of becoming the premier ad network and a consumer “starting point.”

Schneider is a Decker favorite, having been brought to the company from Knight Ridder in the fall of 2006, making her a much later arrival to Yahoo than Weiner, who came in 2001.

She is very well-liked by Yahoo troops and is considered a strong leader at the company.

A move to give her more responsibility would also be accompanied by allowing Weiner’s reports to have more autonomy over their units.

It could also presage a move to make Decker the CEO eventually, with Schneider as her No. 2 and Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang as chairman.

Currently, the company is unlikely to make such a drastic change, especially since it is under siege in a proxy battle being waged by billionaire icon Carl Icahn.

Icahn has recently called for Yang’s ouster, in the wake of its failed takeover talks with Microsoft (MSFT), a fight that has tarnished both Yang and Decker on Wall Street and even within Yahoo ranks.

In any case, there is no timing on these moves as yet, as the company was caught unaware by Weiner’s plans, sources said, since he was on paternity leave.

Weiner had not indicated that he was considering leaving for good until recently, although many inside and outside the company had surmised that he would eventually leave after former CEO and Chairman Terry Semel did early in the year.

Weiner came to Yahoo with Semel and is a longtime protege of the former Hollywood exec.

Yesterday, writing about executive stress at Yahoo, BoomTown posted about the swirling speculation around the fate of Jeff Weiner, the Network division EVP, who many at Yahoo (YHOO) think will soon be headed out the door after his recent paternity leave of four weeks.

As we wrote, Weiner plans to come back next Monday from that sojourn–well, for first-time parents, this roughly translates as the land-of-no-sleep–although he is likely to leave the company within weeks.

The paidContent site, in flagging our report, noted that “we’re being cautioned from within Yahoo not to leap to conclusions–that it wouldn’t be shocking if he decides to ratchet back and get some more family time or if he feels like the leave offered enough of a break to merit sticking around.”

But it’s Yahoo top brass, apparently well aware of Weiner’s intentions, who are going to have to stretch to get him to stay.

Several sources in Silicon Valley’s voluble venture community confirm the high-ranking exec has been offered and seems likely to accept a spot splitting his time as an executive in residence at two firms–Accel Partners and Greylock Partners.

Both firms are the home of several former Yahoos and also are deeply invested in the Web 2.0 consumer market, including each having a stake in Facebook.

Such an alternative might be a perfect aerie and rest stop for the energetic exec who came to Yahoo with former CEO and Chairman Terry Semel in 2001, when the company was in its last period of turmoil.

While leaving now might seem like another instance of Yahoo’s brain drain, BoomTown surmises it might just be time for Weiner–who was one of the more unlikely execs to stay around if the takeover attempt by Microsoft (MSFT) was successful anyway–to move on and try new things.

Yahoo’s board has been meeting today and, doubtlessly, its directors had a lot to talk about (more on that later!).

Of course, there’s the obvious topic of having to figure out how best to deal with the noisy stylings of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who is waging a proxy war on Yahoo (YHOO) and calling for new management at the top.

But perhaps what the board should be focused on is the old management at Yahoo, especially in the levels just below the top, who have been operating the company under a lot of stress for far too long.

These would be those not involved in the deal–which has been essentially restricted to the board and also to CEO Jerry Yang, President Sue Decker and CFO Blake Jorgensen.

Yahoo’s operating execs have only been brought in when they are asked to assess the impact of possible options.

So with the clear-cut deal to be acquired by Microsoft (MSFT) seemingly off the table for now and a range of squishier partial ones being considered with either Microsoft or Google (GOOG), along with the continuing distraction of Icahn’s three-ring circus, it has not been easy for its execs to keep focus.

Thus, many continue to consider their options.

The latest speculation, for example, surrounds the fate of Network division EVP Jeff Weiner (pictured here), who has been on paternity leave for four weeks and will return to work next Monday, sources said.

Sources also tell me there will be a major internal announcement tomorrow and many quickly speculated to me that it would concern Weiner’s fate.

Not quite yet. But most at Yahoo I have spoken to do not expect him to stay long, even leaving within the next few weeks, pointing to the continued uncertainty at the company and also, I would imagine, sheer weariness.

Weiner came to Yahoo with former CEO and Chairman Terry Semel in the 2001, the last period Yahoo was in major distress.

And BoomTown has learned that this internal rumor is borne out by several sources within the venture capital community, who have been speaking to Weiner very recently about coming there as an executive in residence.

The obvious candidates for a new home for Weiner are the top firms, such as Accel Partners and Greylock Partners and perhaps even Benchmark Capital or Sequoia Capital, all of which have ties to Yahoo and have several former Yahoos on staff.

A Weiner departure would leave a big hole at Yahoo, and it is not clear which of his top four SVP reports would take his place–Front Door and Network Services’ Tapan Bhat, Brad Garlinghouse, who heads Yahoo’s communications and communities arenas, Media Group head Scott Moore and Yahoo Search’s Vish Makhijani–if at all.

Or even if Yang and Decker will keep the same setup in place.

That might mean another reorg, which has long been a specialty of Yahoo, to reorder its divisions even more leanly or to put more revenue accountability within the units.

Right now, that responsibility lies primarily with Hilary Schneider (pictured here), EVP Global Partner Solutions, who runs all ad sales.

Of all the top execs–even though she has reportedly been offered many jobs outside Yahoo–Schneider is expected to stay, having been brought into Yahoo more recently by Decker.

Translation: She is not exhausted by all the drama at Yahoo quite yet.