Yahoo's interim chief executive Ross Levinsohn struck an upbeat tone in his first note to staff after taking over in the post from Scott Thomson, who was forced to leave following claims he misrepresented qualifications on his CV.
In a leaked memo to his workforce that made its way into the hands of the tech news website AllthingsD, Levinsohn said Yahoo is "achieving genuine and meaningful successes in the marketplace everyday". He conceded that the company had found itself on a "very bumpy road" in recent times but insisted it was "heading in the right direction".
Levinsohn did not go into the details of issues surrounding his predecessor's departure from the company's boardroom in his note to staff but did confirm Thomson's exit from the top job. He said he was proud to step in and serve as Yahoo's interim CEO and suggested the changes at the company form part of a process that began back in August of last year.
The California-based search engine and internet services company has been consistently beset by boardroom crises over the past year, with the now departed Mr Thomson only having taken the reigns as CEO in late 2011. He was accused of deliberately misrepresenting details of a bachelor's degree on his CV and left despite blaming the alleged oversight on a head-hunting company involved in filling the post. Thomson followed Carol Bartz into the job after she left under a cloud of disgruntlement and claims of back-stabbing as the company continued to struggle financially.
Yahoo has long been one of the most recognisable names in the context of web-based services but it has failed to keep pace with the likes of Google in terms of search engine usage or with Facebook as an overall online presence. The latest data from eMarketer put its share of internet advertising revenues in the US at 9.5 percent for 2011, a figure expected to fall further having been at around 15.7 percent just two years earlier. Meanwhile, staff numbers across the company have been reduced dramatically in recent years and plans for a further 2,000 layoffs were announced just last month.