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Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang appointed CEO
MUMBAI: Yahoo Inc. has appointed co-founder Jerry Yang as CEO. He replaces chairman and chief executive Terry Semel, after pressure from investors for a management shake-up. |
Semel, a former Warner Brothers executive who took charge of Yahoo six years ago, had met with criticism of failing to meet the challenges posed by Google in web-search and advertising and more recently after the rise of social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. At the annual shareholders meeting last week, agitated investors called for a management overhaul and ballots representing a third of investors casting ballots opposed re-electing one or more directors. This built up pressure on Yahoo‘s board for changes in the management structure. Analysts however say that the shake-up may only be a prelude to a more substantial corporate overhaul, which might include a merger or a sale. Yang and Semel said that they had been considering changes for sometime and Semel notified the board that he wanted to step down sooner or later. |
In an interview to International Herald Tribune, Yang said some of his primary functions would be reinvigorate the company and attract top talent, not to overhaul its strategy. “We have a very clear strategy in place and we are executing on it. I very much see the CEO role as something I plan to do for a while,” he said. |
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
