Tech Roundup: Several executives leave Yahoo

During the week, word emerged that the husband-and-wife team that created Yahoo's Flickr photo sharing service, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, have resigned. The resignations follow those of two Yahoo executive vice presidents, Jeff Weiner and Usama Fayyad.

Three more executives have decided to leave Yahoo as well, according to reports published Thursday by the New York Times and two blogs. The reports were based on unnamed people with knowledge of the departures.

Named in the reports were Qi Lu, an executive vice president in charge of Yahoo's search and advertising technology; Brad Garlinghouse, a senior vice president who oversees communications tools; and Vish Makhijani, a senior vice president involved in search.

Yahoo declined to confirm the three reported departures on Thursday, issuing a statement expressing the company's confidence in "a deep and talented management team."

On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard Co. said in an internal memo that it plans to restructure its printing and imaging group--a highly profitable business--from five business units to three.

The reorganization, HP said in the memo, will help the company focus on the unit's biggest growth areas. It may also spur more job cuts, though a spokesman declined to estimate how many employees could lose their jobs.

American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said in a client note that the realignment to focus more on commercial and corporate printing "makes sense." HP's consumer business, Wu wrote, has been under some pressure in recent quarters "due to a softer U.S. consumer environment and mixed results in its inkjet business."

In buyout news, electronic design software maker Cadence Design Systems Inc. disclosed Tuesday it offered $16 per share to buy smaller rival Mentor Graphics Corp. after failing to agree on a deal privately for nearly two months. Based on Mentor's shares outstanding as of June 2, the offer is worth $1.45 billion.

Mentor rejected the bid and called the price too low.