He would have made a fine Yahoo ship captain but Ross Levinsohn, who twice missed the chance of becoming CEO of the Internet firm, is finally leaving the company that he served for close to two years.

Reuters said Mr Levinsohn will cease all his executive functions at Yahoo effective July 31, exactly two weeks after the tech world was informed by the struggling company that it picked an outsider to assume the role of chief executive.

Yahoo lured Marissa Mayer from Google to replace its top honcho Scott Thompson, who in May hastily resigned following allegations that he padded his resume with a degree that he never completed.

To act in Mr Thompson's stead, Mr Levinsohn was tapped in interim capacity but the industry had largely surmised that he would fill in the big boss role full-time, backed by his hefty credential as a media executive who delivered the good for global giants like News Corp and Fox.

Yahoo's board of director, however, felt more comfortable in entrusting the company's long-cherished recovery with the engineering-trained Ms Mayer, who was dubbed by The New York Times as employee number 20 of Google, underscoring her big and pioneering role in building up the Internet giant to what it is today - stable, profitable and influential.

Mr Levinsohn was equally capable but analyst said Yahoo wanted some semblance of assurance when it hired Ms Mayer, whose core competence is in making sure that Google remains ahead of its peers.

Her main weapon in doing so is technology, which could be the key for Yahoo to regain its vigour.

And Mr Levinsohn was not exactly known as a whiz kid on that respect but in a statement Yahoo conceded that "he has done a terrific job during his time at Yahoo."

And so he leaves after witnessing months of tumultuous leadership transition at the tech firm, which started when Yahoo's board unceremoniously fired tough-talking Carol Bartz in late 2011.

Reuters reported that Mr Levinsohn is likely to part ways with Yahoo a happy man as he is poised to carry with him pay package of up to $US6 million, which includes his salary, bonuses and stock options.

While Ms Mayer had earlier hinted that she would have wanted Mr Levinsohn to remain on board, The Associated Press (AP) characterised his departure as hardly a surprise for Yahoo and the tech industry, at least not in the manner when Ms Bartz and Mr Thompson left.

Proof the smooth transition this time around, AP said, is that Yahoo's stocks were moving and performing as expected following the announcement on Monday that Mr Levinsohn will be out of the firm the next day.

No major disturbance, in short, which indeed is a welcome news for Yahoo and its new CEO.

Still, the news agency agreed with some analysts who viewed the media-savvy Levinsohn as a potent weapon that could greatly help Ms Mayer in turning around Yahoo after years of slumps and disappointments.