The industry is sighing, mostly in relief, on the news that nice-guy Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang will step down as CEO, as soon as they can find a replacement. Why? Gadgetell points out "2008 has not been kind to Yahoo. It began with a buyout offer from Microsoft that they promptly screwed up, and was followed by the disintegration of their ad deal with Google and two rounds of layoffs." Valleywag has five reasons why Yang deserves to be vacating the CEO seat. As Boy Genius Report puts it, "Yang has been at the helm of what can only be described as a sinking ship since June of 2007." Yang still will work on tech and strategy as "Chief Yahoo!" and remain on the company board.

The step down isn't a surprise, says GigaOM. "It was clear from [Yang's] talk at a recent industry conference that he was tired and perhaps a little out of his depth." FT.com's techblog describes Yang (who launched Yahoo with David Filo at the dawn of the Web in 1994) a "reluctant CEO." Boomtown calls Yang "a truly nice man - which has been a plus and a minus for him" and has Yang's memo to Yahoo employees here. SeekingAlpha says Yang was never right as Yahoo's CEO: "Why did it take so long?" This is a good thing for Yahoo, says The Forrester Blog.

So far, so good: YHOO shares this morning were up 11 percent in early trading, says Epicenter. But beyond today's sunrise lie new questions, says Download Squad: "Who will replace him as CEO? Will the move bring Microsoft back to the table, or has that ship sailed? Could Yahoo! be looking for a new buyer or strategic partnership?" Any incoming Yahoo chief is in "a similar position to Barack Obama -- inheriting something of a mess," says Search Engine Land. PaidContent rounds up a bunch of candidates for the job. Boomtown suggests News Corp. President Peter Chernin would be an ideal Yahoo CEO and provides a generous shortlist of other candidates.