Terry S. Semel

Age: 64

WHAT HE DOES
Semel is the former chairman and C.E.O. of Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, the largest internet portal in the world. He stepped down from his posts in June 2007.

WHAT HE’S KNOWN FOR
He was the man behind the Batmobile and other adventures in moviemaking that turned Warner Bros. from a middling film studio generating $1 billion annually into an entertainment powerhouse taking in more than $11 billion. And he’s the guy who left all that glamour behind to tackle the bursting dotcom bubble.

Respected for his cool demeanor and skills as a negotiator, Semel was the ultimate Hollywood power player during his 24-year stint at the top of Warner Bros. He and partner Bob Daly mastered the art of making hugely expensive action movies and turning them into profitable franchises, like Lethal Weapon and the Matrix series, thanks to creative co-financing deals, product placement, and lots of marketing. They also oversaw the expansion of the company into a diverse array of businesses around the world.

Contract negotiations in 1999 with corporate parent Time Warner soured, however, and Semel and Daly decided to quit. Semel started making investments in internet companies and ended up signing on as Yahoo’s top executive in May 2001, just as the internet economy entered its free fall.

Silicon Valley questioned Yahoo’s choice of Semel from the start. At the time he was appointed C.E.O., he didn’t even use email. He also was twice as old as the average Yahoo employee and wasn’t a fan of the laid-back corporate culture that had come to define the industry.

Still, in the face of an industry-wide collapse, he was a good businessman. He streamlined operations, made some headline-making acquisitions like Launch.com and Del.icio.us, and embraced search advertising. Within three years, the company had made a turnaround, doubling its annual revenues.

Yahoo’s comeback, alas, was brief. In the summer of 2002, Semel made a failed play to buy Google for $3 billion (even as his own executives were telling him that the company was worth at least $5 billion). Google soon sported a market value many times that of Yahoo’s and became its chief competitor. Among the other acquisition targets that Semel missed: MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook. The company’s stock declined 40 percent in 2006.

In June 2007, following shareholder demand for greater market value, Semel stepped down and was replaced by founder Jerry Yang as C.E.O. and chairman.

WHERE HE’S FROM
Semel was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the Bayside section of Queens. His father was a coat designer and his mother worked as an executive at a bus company. He graduated from Long Island University in 1964 and worked briefly as an accountant before taking his first job at Warner Bros.

WHAT’S NEXT
Since he stepped down from Yahoo, Semel has held a low profile. Analysts expect he may eventually return to his roots in Hollywood, while others say he may rest on his laurels and enjoy the profits from his shares of Yahoo—especially if new management keeps it on an upward climb. —David Hirschman