Reading stories like the Google founders' fight over king-sized airborne beds and Oracle founder Larry Ellison's big-boat-buying spree, and execs like Google VP Marissa Mayer and Fox Interactive head Ross Levinsohn gabbing to the press whenever possible, the average Valley Joe may think every Silicon Valley suit has an ego the size of a dwarf planet.

Not so! When Yahoo announced its new "Marketplaces" business unit today, with a director who reports to Decker, the Wall Street Journal tried to pump up Decker's prospects. She demurred.

It could also possibly indicate that Ms. Decker is being groomed as a potential candidate to succeed Chief Executive Terry Semel upon his eventual retirement. This is the first time Ms. Decker, 43 years old, has formal responsibility for a part of the company's operations. ("I don't think this announcement is about this," said Ms. Decker. "It's about bringing a great executive into the company.")

Remember that this is the same exec who said Yahoo is comfortable being Number 2 in search. You don't see fake-humble people like the Google execs pulling this, do you?

Yahoo Hires Knight Ridder Executive To Head New Marketplace Unit [Wall Street Journal; photo from Yahoo]

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