Yahoo CTO Nazem Retires

Yahoo Chief Technology Officer Farzad Nazem, who has led the company's technology initiatives for more than a decade, said Wednesday that he would retire early next month.

Nazem, 45, said in a posting on the corporate blog that he was leaving to take a break. "After spending the last 26 years in this fast-paced technology industry, I've finally decided it's time to slow down," he said. Nazem's last day with the company is set for June 8.

Nazem said he had been thinking about retirement for a while, but decided to stay on long enough to help in the company's recent reorganization, and the roll out earlier this year of Panama, a major overhaul of the company's search-advertising system. Panama, however, has yet to meet investors' expectations for early financial returns.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang would lead the Technology Group until the company found a permanent replacement for Nazem.

Nazem joined Yahoo in early 1996 as a senior VP of engineering. He was named CTO in January 1998. Before joining Yahoo, Nazem was VP of Oracle's Media and Web Server Division.