Jerry Yang Calls on Sue Decker to Bolster Pitch

By Saul Hansell

Long before Microsoft sprung its hostile offer for Yahoo, Jerry Yang, the Internet company’s chief executive, agreed to address the annual meeting of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Selling ads, particularly expensive branding campaigns, is essential to Yahoo’s future–whoever owns it.

Mr. Yang now may well have other things on his schedule besides making speeches. Oh, to pick one: figuring out how to respond to the looming threat of a Microsoft proxy fight. Yet Mr. Yang still plans to speak Monday at the I.A.B. gathering in Phoenix. And in a surprise move, he has told the I.A.B. he will bring Sue Decker, his No. 2, with him to speak.

Why the double team? Yahoo representatives wouldn’t say.

Maybe it is to convince the advertising world how much Yahoo loves them. Perhaps because Ms. Decker has been more involved in Yahoo’s advertising strategy than Mr. Yang. Or they could answer the questions everyone has about their response to Microsoft’s deal. (Probably not.)

The I.A.B., by the way, is a group that brings together Internet companies, advertising agencies, technology companies, and online marketing executives from advertisers. Randall Rothenberg, the group’s chief executive, said he expected 200 attendees. In fact, the meeting sold out with 400 tickets.

I’ll be manning the Bits laptop during Mr. Yang’s speech Monday morning, and I’ll have some other posts in the next two days about the state of online advertising amid the turmoil among the big Internet player and the uncertain state of the economy.

Source: The New York Times