Last  night, Yahoo announced that Jerry Yang would end his second tour of duty as CEO. Called out of retirement during the Summer of 2007 to help Yahoo adapt to life after the Terry Semel regime, to say that the 2nd Yang dynasty did not  go well is an understatement. The decisions Yang presided over to reject the Microsoft take over bid will likely define Yang, but should they ultimately be his legacy?

The day of Yang’s resignation, a story ran in Advertising Age citing the numerous reasons Madison Avenue and marketers alike find Yahoo a compelling buy on their plans. Whether Yahoo remains independent or eventually gets acquired, Yang’s legacy has taken quite the hit in the last 12-18 months. So has his personal net worth as a result of the plummeting Yahoo stock price. It seems “Yang the founder” could not separate his love of Yahoo from the function “Yang the CEO” found himself in to make the best decision for the company and its shareholders.

Was Yahoo being undervalued? Whether you think yes or no, it seems unlikely that a proud parent, one who bleeds Purple, would ever feel otherwise. And that, right or wrong, now becomes the Yang legacy overshadowing the Decade of Yahoo as the Home Page of the Internet, a title only possible because of David Filo and Jerry Yang. A title which now, like CEO, no longer belongs to Yang and his beloved Yahoo.