Valleywag: Jeff Jordan

Cowed Yahoo board members' wishlist of Yang and Decker replacements

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:02:02 PDT

Yahoo shares are almost below $20 in morning trading and as the company approaches its August 1 annual meeting, Yahoo's directors have finally begun to fear for their jobs and their reputations. They're negotiating with Yahoo's major shareholders and, along with agreeing to renew talks with Microsoft and approach AOL for acquisition, some on the board are offering to promote CEO Jerry Yang into a non-executive chairmanship and fire Yahoo president Sue Decker. Reporter's reporter Kara Swisher reports that shareholders and some board members have already come up with a wish list of names for the top jobs.

Former Fox Interactive boss Ross Levinsohn and AOL CEO Jon Miller, now partners at Velocity Interactive, seem to come as a pair. Levinsohn is best known for acquiring MySpace for Fox Interactive and quitting the company after it wouldn't buy Digg. But Levinsohn is also known for bullying entrepreneurs — once, so badly that renowned angel investor Ron Conway reportedly "flew off the handle" at him. In some quarters and in Jason Calacanis's heart, Miller gets credit turning around AOL. But like any exec, Miller has his detractors at AOL and they came out of the woodwork when he was fired last year. One described him as

An executive over 4 years that put more incompetent people in high-places (e.g., McKinley) while firing (Govern) and letting reams of talented folks (e.g., Kotay, list-o-long) leave that were passionate and—at least—somewhat competent, and were actually trying to foster some core innovation and synergy.
OpenTable’s CEO Jeff Jordan is on Yahoo shareholders and board members' wishlist, just like he was on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's list to become COO of that company before it settled on Sheryl Sandberg. An eBay veteran, Jordan was thought to be in line for Meg Whitman's job until he took over as OpenTable's CEO in 2007. His reputation as a "product Nazi" led Valleywag to endorse him for Yahoo's top job way back in November 2006.
Tim Armstrong heads up Google's ad sales force and the unit is perhaps respectably profitable enough for Yahoo shareholders and board members to include him on their list. We wonder, however, if the board knows about Armstrong's involvement with sketchy search engine spam company Associated Content.
Why wouldn't Yahoo's board and shareholders want Microsoft’s Kevin Johnson for the company's top job? Ever since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced a bid to acquire the company on February 1, no one's given more thought to running Yahoo. Johnson's even written several memos on the topic — showing great ability to include exclamation marks after the company's name while still respecting the need for capital letters.

We already know enough about Yahoo's potential new CEOs to know that all of them are at once talented and flawed. But we're greedy, so tell us more?

If Sandberg doesn't work out at Facebook, blame Zuckerberg's sleeping habits

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:00:00 PDT

We already knew that before Facebook hired Google ad boss Sheryl Sandberg as COO in early 2008, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg interviewed former eBay executive Jeff Jordan for the gig in 2007. What we didn't know, until a source familiar with Facebook told us, is that Zuckerberg actually offered Jordan the job. Jordan turned the offer down and took over as CEO at OpenTable instead. Why was Jordan so comfortable spurning a pre-IPO social network gaining users at a rate of 3 percent a week? Our source says the infamous workaholic blamed it on Zuckerberg's propensity to sleep-in. "It was a cultural thing," our source says. "Jeff has two kids and needs to keep a regular schedule. Mark doesn't show up at the office till 11."

Next eBay CEO chosen by process of elimination

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:47:30 PST

eBay CEO Meg Whitman could announce plans to retire as soon as today's earnings call. The most likely candidate to replace her? Consensus suggests auctions chief John Donahoe. But how'd that happen? A quick look at other viable contenders shows Donahoe's candidacy owes much to the process of elimination. Here's how the discarded contenders stack up.

Candidate: Jeff Jordan
Resume: Former Disney exec.
Credentials: Came in with Whitman. Ran PayPal and eBay's North American operations.
Why it won't happen: Jordan got the ax 18 months ago, after blame settled on his shoulders for an eBay slowdown three years ago. Now he runs OpenTable.

Candidate: Bill Cobb
Resume: Former PepsiCo exec.
Credentials: When Cobb got the gig of president of eBay North America, Whitman made it known he'd eventually compete for her job.
Why it won't happen: Not too long ago, Cobb lowered listing fees, flooding the eBay market with cheap goods. This slowed the auction giant's growth and lead some analysts to call for the company to embrace the role of "value" stock. That's not what eBay's board or shareholders want. Also, Cobb already reports to Donahoe.

Candidate: Rajiv Dhutta
Resume: Head of worldwide sales for semiconductor firm KLA-Tencor.
Credentials: Former CFO and head of strategy now runs the PayPal division.
Why it won't happen: He also used to run Skype after championing its acquisition. So that's that.

(Photo by liewcf)

Jeff Jordan is just another Valley workaholic

ndouglas — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 07:25:48 PST

PayPal president Jeff Jordan (the man afraid of Google) made sure the Wall Street Journal saw him as a hard worker — or a sick freak:

An avid mountain biker, Mr. Jordan begins his workday at around 5 a.m. at the eBay gym, perched atop a stationary bicycle while tapping away on his BlackBerry.

Berrying while exercycling? How is that even productive? Jordan is either lying to himself or showing off for the reporter. But it's not the worst of the ludicrous ways Valley big shots overwork themselves.

Marissa Mayer only takes red-eye flights, to avoid missing workdays, according to John Battelle's book The Search.
VCs reportedly drive around to parking lots, late at night, to see which startups putting in the hours.
Google caught several interns — and full-time engineers — trying to live and sleep at the Googleplex.
One biotech IT manager wakes at 4 a.m. three times a week to train for over two hours, then skips lunch to lift weights.
Execs and VCs like Steve Jurvetson (pictured above) swim across the bay or bike up mountains, and they admit they make deals during these grueling show-off sports.

Geez, people, slow down. You're making the rest of us feel bad.

PayPal Prepares For a Challenge From Google [WSJ]
Wheels and Deals in Silicon Valley [NYT in Park Association]