Terence Steven Semel (born February 24, 1943) is an Americancorporate executive who was thechairman andCEO ofYahoo! Incorporated from 2001 to 2007. Previously, he spent 24 years atWarner Bros., where he served as chairman and co-chief executive officer.

Terry Semel
Semel at the Web 2.0 Conference 2005
Born	(1943-02-24)February 24, 1943 (age 82) Brooklyn,New York
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Long Island University (B.S.)
Spouse(s)	Maryann Semel (divorced) Jane (Bovingdon) Semel (m. 1977 - present)
Children	4
Parent(s)	Mildred Wenig Semel Ben Semel

Semel was born to aJewish family^[1][2] inBrooklyn,New York, the son of Mildred (née Wenig) and Ben Semel.^[3] His father was a women's coat designer and his mother was a bus company executive. He was raised inBay Terrace, a community inBayside, Queens. He was the middle child, and has two sisters.^[4] At the age of 23, he graduated fromLong Island University in Brooklyn with a B.S. degree in accounting.

Semel began working at Warner Bros. in 1965 as a trainee.^[5] From 1970 to 1972, Semel worked for CBS corporation's theatrical film production company, Cinema Center Films, as domestic sales manager.

CBS closed Cinema Center Films in 1972 and Semel moved toWalt Disney Productions, where he was vice president in charge of theatrical distribution until 1975.

In 1975, Semel returned to Warner Bros. Distribution as president, then moved into studio operations as an executive vice president in 1979.Frank Wells announced he was taking a less active role the company in 1981, Semel became president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. on January 1, 1982.

In 1994, Warner Bros. Chairman and Chief ExecutiveRobert A. Daly announced that Semel would become his co-chairman and CEO. The following year, the two men also became co-chairmen and co-chief executives ofWarner Music following the firing ofMichael J. Fuchs.

Both Daly and Semel resigned from Warner Bros. in July 1999.

In April 2001, Semel was granted stock options with an SEC Fair Value of over $110 million as a bonus to join Yahoo. In June 2006, his annual salary was reduced toone dollar.

As CEO, Semel approvedYahoo!'s cooperation with Chinese officials to release previously confidential Yahoo! information to the Chinese government. This action by Yahoo! was not well received and he showed signs of regret as to how that information was being used. For example, in a widely publicized exchange atThe Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital conference, he was asked if Yahoo! would have cooperated withNazi Germany. In response, Semel, who isJewish, stated, "I don't know how I would have felt then." He added, "I don't feel good about what's happening in China today."^[6] When questioned on this topic in a Q & A discussion with Peter Bazalgette at The Royal Television Society Cambridge Convention in 2005, his response was "We have to abide by the laws in the countries in which we operate."

After joining Yahoo, company foundersJerry Yang andDavid Filo suggested he look at buying Google, whose founders looked up to Yahoo's founders. Semel had dinner withLarry Page andSergey Brin, asking them what their business was with Yahoo paying only $7 million annually as its biggest licensor of Google search technology. So Semel proposed to buy Google. They replied that they wanted $1 billion and didn't want to sell. Semel said he'd think about the price.After another dinner Semel agreed to the $1 billion. Page and Brin replied that they wanted $3 billion and didn't want to sell.^[7]

Semel was given the mandate by Yahoo Board to buy Facebook for up to 1.2 billion dollars,Mark Zuckerberg having asked a price of one billion dollars. He tried to make it nonetheless for $850,000,000, and Zuckerberg stopped the negotiating process.

Semel resigned as CEO due in part to pressure from shareholders' dissatisfaction over his compensation (in 2006,salary $1, stock options worth $70 million^{[citation needed]}) and performance.

Semel ended his six-year tenure as chief executive officer Monday, June 18, 2007, and handed over the reins to co-founderJerry Yang in the Internet icon's latest attempt to regain investor confidence. At age 64, Semel remained chairman in a non-executive role.^[8] Besides naming Yang as its new CEO, Yahoo appointedSusan Decker as its president. Having recently been promoted to oversee Yahoo's advertising operations, Decker had widely been regarded as Semel's heir apparent. He later resigned from his post as non-executive chairman from Yahoo completely on January 31, 2008.

Semel is Co-Chair Emeritus of the board of trustees of theLos Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)^[9] In 1995, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.^[10] In 2005, he was given the UCLA Medal, that University's highest honor, and the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of theYale School of Management.

In 1966, he married Maryann Soloway; they divorced in 1974.^[11]

In 1977, he married Jane Bovingdon,^[3] a former secretary to the actressSusan George.

He has a son, Eric Scott Semel (b. March 15, 1969),^[12][13][14] and three daughters, Courtenay Semel (b. November 11, 1979),^[15][16] Lily Bovingdon Semel (b. 1985), and Kate Bovingdon Semel (b. March, 1992).^{[citation needed]}.

In 2004, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute was renamed the Jane & TerrySemel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.^[17]

Semel developedAlzheimer's disease, and began living in a nursing facility in 2016.^[18]

• One-dollar salary