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Asked to name one person associated with Yahoo, most people would pick Jerry Yang.  David Filo would be another choice.  Perhaps third out of roughly 14,000 employees is Jeremy Zawodny, though, and within a few weeks, he'll be leaving the company.

Zawodny seems to be part of a real flood of individuals on the way out; the departures of Jeff Weiner and J.R. Conlin were also confirmed today.  And with discussions of proxy wars and acquisitions taking place, it's hard not to perceive a common cause.

 Jeremy Zawodny

Yet as part of a goodbye blog post, Zawodny wrote, "The reality is that there's nothing pushing me out the door at Yahoo.  The reason I'm leaving is that something very compelling has come along to lure me away.  Despite what the current press sentiment might be, Jerry and David have built a remarkable company."

He later continued, "As for the future of Yahoo, everyone working at Yahoo today knows in their gut what Yahoo should be and needs to be.  My advice is to work on making that happen.  Don't let anyone else (inside or outside the company) try to tell you what Yahoo is.  Trust your gut."

So perhaps the obvious explanation for Zawodny's exit isn't correct.  Yahoo's still losing a very valuable employee, though, and for the company, the development's timing is less than ideal.