A measure of the cost to Yahoo's shareholders of Terry Semel's continued management: take a look at the company's share price, today. It jumped, first, on rumors that Semel might be out, and surged when the market closed, and the official news came out. So how much had Semel depressed Yahoo's shares? Taking the after-market price, Yahoo's added about $4bn in value. Unfortunately, that's because one of the obstacles to a takeover has now been removed, rather than a reflection of investors' hopes for new management.

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