Yahoo Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Yang will step down after the company finds a replacement. It was a great run for this innovator and a ride he will never forget. Yahoo, Inc. is still the #1 search engine today and it has been aggressively challenge by Google. What’s next for Yahoo now? I for one am curious to see who will fill those big shoes of Mr. Yang.

Mr. Yang has been taking a lot of heat lately from the board and from Microsoft. Activist investor Carl Icahn said he would replace Mr. Yang as CEO if his proxy campaign succeeded. After Yahoo agreed to a truce with Mr. Icahn, allowing him to join the board, shareholder resentment lingered.

Mr. Yang stayed on, arguing that he was the best person to help Yahoo turn it around. That became increasingly difficult as the board was unwilling to abandon the notion that a deal with Microsoft could yet be struck, said people familiar with the matter. And while Mr. Yang is not opposed to a deal, and recently said publicly that he thought Microsoft should try to buy Yahoo, his relationship with Microsoft has been strained by months of tense negotiations.

A person familiar with Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer’s thinking said that the Microsoft chief is still interested in buying Yahoo’s search business, which could help the software company with the critical task of ratcheting up its market share against Google Inc.

On Monday, Yahoo shares closed at $10.63 a share. A far cry from the $31 a share Microsoft offered on January 31, 2008.

Farewell Jerry, you made a difference for all of us.