Tech Head's Exit Leaves Yahoo! in Lurch

Having another open slot at the top will make it that much harder to complete Yahoo!'s management team -- even as the company needs to be firing on all cylinders more than ever. Yahoo! continues to look for someone to head up its Audiences unit that was formed during the winter shake-up, for example. But strong candidates will want to know what the rest of the management team looks like before signing up. That makes the task of bringing new members on more difficult with every new vacancy.

Those are serious issues Yahoo! investors should be thinking about, no matter how the company portrays its latest management departure.