Yahoo's M&A Head Andrew Siegel Is Departing the Company

Andrew Siegel–Yahoo’s head of corporate development, who is in charge of its mergers and acquisitions strategy–is leaving the company, according to sources.

The former General Electric exec, who came to the Internet giant just over a year ago, is well liked at Yahoo and also has been active in making the rounds in the tech scene in Silicon Valley.

Siegel’s exit is part of a long line of departures of top talent under the leadership of CEO Carol Bartz.

Siegel has made some very prescient moves on game-changing companies for Yahoo to purchase–including Yelp, Foursquare and Groupon–but Yahoo has not been able to land them for a variety of reasons.

In Foursquare’s case, the geolocation hot spot decided to remain independent and take more funding, after also talking to Facebook, and moneybags Google has hip checked Yahoo out of the running for social buying phenom Groupon.

Yelp, the reviews site that had unsuccessful talks with Google too, simply did not want to sell to Yahoo.

Both also were worried about Yahoo’s future prospects and its top management’s ability to turn the situation around, multiple sources confirm, as have other top start-ups that Siegel has been interested in.

And while he has bought some smaller companies for Yahoo–such as Citizen Sports and Associated Content–that’s been frustrating to Siegel, said sources.

Sources also noted that Siegel has also been commuting to Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ from New York, where his family lives–also a factor in his decision to leave.

He apparently told his Yahoo bosses he was leaving just last week and the company has no replacement as yet.

Yahoo declined to comment about Siegel’s status.