Flickr co-founders depart Yahoo

Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, the husband-and-wife co-founders of the Flickr photo-sharing site Yahoo acquired in 2005, are leaving the Internet giant.

Fake's last day was June 13, and Butterfield's will be July 12, Yahoo spokeswoman Terrell Karlsten said. "Obviously Stewart and Caterina have made tremendous contributions to Yahoo. We appreciate all their work and wish them well," she said.

The pair join a small but notable parade of Yahoo departures. Among others in the last week are Jeff Weiner, executive vice president of the network division; Usama Fayyad, chief data officer; and Jeremy Zawodny, a top programmer and advocate of what's now become the Yahoo Open Strategy.

TechCrunch reported the departures Tuesday.

Flickr is one of the major "starting points" Yahoo is promoting as an effort to revitalize its Web site, moving to an approach that emphasizes top properties. Flickr is a major force on the Internet, housing not just vast numbers of photos but also active groups devoted to discussing subjects such as new camera technology and photography techniques and to rating each other's images.

Update 4:27 p.m. PDT: Yahoo said the departures weren't the result of a reorganization or other internal action. "People are making personal decisions," said spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens Acree.

Update 4:42 p.m. PDT: Kakul Srivastava, who has been general manager for about a month will continue in that role, Karlsten added.

Meanwhile, the Flickr community is discussing the change--at Flickr, naturally.