Background
Semel was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Mildred (née Wenig) and Ben Semel. His father was a women"s coat designer and his mother was a bus company executive.
entertainment company executive
Semel was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Mildred (née Wenig) and Ben Semel. His father was a women"s coat designer and his mother was a bus company executive.
Bachelor of Science in Accounting, L.I.U., 1964. Postgraduate in market research, City College of New York, 1967. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Emerson College, 2004.
Previously, Semel spent 24 years at Warner Brothers, where he served as chairman and co-chief executive officer In June 2007, Semel resigned as Chief Executive Officer due in part to pressure from shareholders" dissatisfaction over Semel"s compensation (in 2006 - salary $1, stock options worth $70 million) and performance. He was raised in Bay Terrace, a community in Bayside, Queens.
He was the middle child and has two sisters.
Yahoo compensation
In April 2001, Semel was granted stock options with an Securities and Exchange Commission Fair Value of over $110 million as a bonus to join Yahoo. During June 2006, Terry Semel"s annual salary was reduced to one dollar.
Yahoo!-China cooperation controversy
As Chief Executive Officer, Semel approved Yahoo!"s cooperation with Chinese officials to release previously confidential Yahoo! information to the Chinese government. This action by Yahoo! was not well received and Semel showed signs of regret as to how that information was being used.
Foreign example, in a widely publicized exchange at The Wall Street Journal"s All Things Digital conference, Semel was asked if Yahoo! would have cooperated with Nazi Germany.
In response, Semel, who is Jewish, stated, "I don’t know how I would have felt then" He added, "I don’t feel good about what’s happening in China today." When questioned on this topic in a Q & A discussion with Peter Bazalgette at The Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention in 2005, his response was "We have to abide by the laws in the countries in which we operate"
Lost chance to take over Google
After joining Yahoo, company founders Jerry Yang and David Filo suggested he look at buying Google, whose founders looked up Yahoo"s inventors. Semel had dinner with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, asking them what their business was with Yahoo paying only $7 million annually as its biggest licensor of Google search technology. So Semel proposed to buy Google.
They replied that they wanted $1 billion and didn"t want to sell.
Semel said he"d think about the price. Another dinner and Semel agreed to the $1 billion.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin replied that they wanted $3 billion and didn"t want to sell. Resignation
Semel, 64, remained chairman in a non-executive role.
Besides naming Yang as its new Chief Executive Officer, Yahoo appointed Susan Decker as its president
Decker, who had been recently promoted to oversee Yahoo"s advertising operations, had widely been seen as Semel"s apparent heir. Semel later resigned from his post as non-executive Chairman from Yahoo completely on January 31, 2008. Semel is currently co-chair of the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) In 2005, Semel was given the University of California, Los Angeles Medal, that University"s highest honor, and the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management.
Vice chairman President's Committee for the Arts and Humanities. Vice chair San Diego Host Committee for 1996 Republican National Convention. Board trustee Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Education First, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Environmental Media Association, Emerson College.
Board director Museum television and Radio, Los Angeles County Museum Art.
Married Jane Bovingdon, August 24, 1977. Children: Eric Scott, Courtenay Jane, Lily Bovingdon Semel, Kate Bovingdon Semel.