During his first investor call in July after being named CEO of Yahoo! Inc., Jerry Yang said he would spend the next 100 days or so coming up with a fresh, strategic plan for the company he co-founded. Let’s hope he’s more successful than the Democrats were in the first 100 days after taking over Congress.

The 100 days aren’t up until the end of October (right around Oct. 25 unless he meant 100 business days), but it doesn’t seem as though anyone is going to forget Yang’s pledge. In a BoomTown blog post Wednesday, Kara Swisher notes that many Yahoo! employees aren’t waiting around to see what Yang has to say, and are fleeing for less volatile situations. No doubt some of the departing employees are the ones who would possibly be let go should Yang purge the ranks, but as Swisher points out, Yahoo! might be losing important middle and higher managers who are needed to help the company pull off at turnaround.

We’re still holding out hope that part of Yang’s new plan includes a more aggressive M&A strategy, but recognize that the company may have difficulty competing with the deep pockets of chief rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for some of the prized Internet properties, like Facebook Inc. If its task proves too daunting, Yang could be spending his second 100 days looking for a buyer. — David Shabelman