Yahoo! has appointed a beancounting movie man as its new CEO and chairman.

The former co-chairman and co-CEO of Warner Bros, Terry S Semel will take up his position on May 1st replacing Tim Koogle who last month announced he was stepping down from the top flight.

At the time it seemed Koogle would relinquish his position as CEO but stay on as chairman. However, in a statement issued today Semel gets the job of both chairman and CEO while Koogle will stay on in a transitional role as vice chairman until August.

In a suitably puffy introduction Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, said: "Terry is a strong leader with a distinguished track record, and embodies all the characteristics that make him uniquely suited to be Yahoo!'s next chairman and CEO.

"He helped build one of the world's largest and most successful media enterprises and has established and operated diverse global businesses at large scale.

"Terry's vast and successful professional experience complements our current people and assets. His marketing expertise, brand building strengths, creativity, passion for our business, and reputation for setting and achieving high standards and goals while driving winning strategies, makes Terry the clear choice for this role.

"We have spent a considerable amount of time with Terry, and he clearly understands the tremendous opportunity ahead for Yahoo!. His background positions him to help Yahoo! innovate for future growth," he said.

Gosh - that is certainly something to live up to. Let's hope Yang hasn't built him up for a fall. ®

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