Yahoo co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Yang will step down as soon as the company finds a replacement for him, closing a tumultuous and short tenure during which Yahoo rejected an offer from Microsoft to buy it.

It seems that Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock and Yang have been discussing for weeks the possibility that the CEO might step aside. This comes in a very difficult moment for Yahoo, which has been fighting a battle to remain independent for months. With this decision, Microsoft should finally be able to take over the company.

Investors have always said that Mr. Yang was not the right person to help Yahoo make painful strategic choices. Activist investor Carl Icahn said he would replace Mr. Yang as CEO if his proxy campaign succeeded. After Yahoo agreed to a truce with Icahn, allowing him to join the board, shareholder resentment lingered. Yang received the support of 66% of shareholder votes cast at the company’s recent annual meeting, but he stayed on, arguing he is the best person to help Yahoo turn itself around. However, the board was unwilling to abandon the notion that a deal with Microsoft could yet be struck and, while Yang did not oppose a deal, his relationship with Microsoft has been strained by months of tense negotiations.

Board members have chosen executive-search firm Heidrick&Struggles International to find Yang’s successor, but it seems the board will most likely choose Yahoo’s president, Susan Decker, even if some large investors previously expressed concerns that Decker lacks the management experience for the job. For now, Microsoft has been saying that they do not want to buy Yahoo. At a recent event last month, though, company representatives admitted that Microsoft could buy Yahoo’s search engine.