New Yahoo COO Henrique De Castro has been racking up the frequent flyers miles trying to land someone who can take on a big chunk of his job, as SVP of Americas — in charge of sales, sales development, media, business development and strategy in the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s core market.

It’s a key placement for the company, whose advertising organization has undergone a drastic shift of late under De Castro and is in need of more direct leadership. In addition, Yahoo has recently overhauled its email and homepage offerings, key revenue drivers in the U.S., and needs a consistent face to marketers, some of whom have expressed confusion to me about the company’s strategic media plan going forward.

Yahoo can coast for a bit, given its stock has been rising on the actual performance of its stake in China’s Alibaba Group and the hoped-for turnaround by its CEO Marissa Mayer. She has been busy trying to overhaul a range of things at the company — from mobile to search to ad tech to, most famously recently, how and where its employees work. But it’s not clear as yet if these will provide a massive boost to its longtime difficulties with revenue growth and engagement declines.

Since U.S. ads keep the lights on for now, a top sales exec is crucial. The Americas job was most recently held by Ross Levinsohn, who lost his bid to be CEO to Mayer. And well-regarded ad head Michael Barrett left after De Castro arrived (let’s say bygones and leave it at that).

While De Castro has talked to a number of high-profile Internet execs, none have bitten as yet, for a search that is being conducted by Spencer Stuart.

As described in the memo I obtained, which you can read below in its entirety, the job will require some big shoes to fill. “S/he will be expected to be the ‘voice’ of the Americas region, serving as bridge between the region and the corporate teams,” according to the job description. “Additionally he/she will be a thought leader within the company and a well-respected industry leader as Yahoo!’s primary externally facing advertising and media executive.”

According to sources, there might also be other job movement among current top Yahoo execs, with Mayer eyeing some external replacements in media, social and communications products. She has already vamoosed some top execs, such as products chief Shashi Seth and others.

In any case, here is the job request, if you are interested:

Yahoo SVP-Americas

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been trying to recruit Katie Jacobs Stanton, Twitter’s head of international markets, to take a major job on the media side of the Silicon Valley Internet giant, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

While she holds that globally-focused role at the social communications service, Stanton is an obvious choice for Mayer, who actually was once her boss at Google, including when Stanton was the product management leader in the launch of Google Finance.

More importantly for Mayer, Stanton was the key driving force in creating Yahoo Finance, perhaps its most powerful content site, when she worked there from 1999 to 2002.

In other words, she knows media.

It does not seem likely Stanton will leave Twitter, but it makes a lot of sense that Mayer would try to get her.

It’s not clear what job Mayer is offering Stanton, but it is presumably a big one. One source said it could involve running Yahoo’s powerful home page, while another said it might be an even larger role.

Ross Levinsohn, the top Yahoo exec who left recently, had been overall head of media and sales for the Americas at the company. When he was named interim CEO of Yahoo earlier this year, he had elevated Mickie Rosen as SVP of media and commerce.

Rosen is still in that role now, where she has purview over all Yahoo media and commerce efforts worldwide.

But many expect Mayer to soon begin to replace Yahoo’s top exec team with choices of her own. She has already started an overhaul of its communications team, and has been recently focusing on human resources and its product leads, too.

But media is a critical unit at Yahoo, and Stanton would easily be on any short list of candidates to fill key jobs there.

At the San Francisco-based Twitter, her focus has been on raising its profile abroad, where it has been growing by leaps and bounds. That has often been in high-profile ways, such as its use in the Arab Spring protest and after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

Stanton came to Twitter from a stint in Washington, D.C., including at the State Department, where she did the laudable mobile donation campaign for Haiti that raised $32 million for victims of the devastating earthquake there. She was also the White House’s first director of citizen participation, and got the Obama administration tweeting via @whitehouse.

At Google, she also worked on its Open Social efforts, as well as on launching its interactive discussion tool, Google Moderator.

But Yahoo Finance is probably still her biggest hit, and one of the few properties on the site that has remain a huge success, despite the company’s many troubles.

Stanton graduated from Rhodes College, and later got a master degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

I have an email into the apparently silent new PR spokeswoman at Yahoo, as well as the much more communicative spokesman at Twitter, and will update if I get a response.

We’ll see if Mayer can land Stanton, but if you want to get a good idea of the always affable and charming exec, here is a video of her in action — love her “can we go boy, girl, boy, girl” in the Q&A part at the end — at a recent event in Germany, when Twitter was opening its office in Berlin:

In related news, after picking up a midlevel Google product PR person last week to work closely with her on corporate communications, Mayer seems to have grabbed another exec from the search giant. She’s hired a policy manager named Patricia Moll Kriese to become Yahoo’s senior director for corporate projects (whatever that means!).

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

As I previously reported he likely would, top Yahoo exec Ross Levinsohn — who lost the CEO race to former Google exec Marissa Mayer — is leaving the company, according to several sources.

Mayer also just sent a note to the company about the departure, added a multitude of other sources across the company.

(Update: Yahoo just filed regulatory documents about the separation, noting severance agreements that total many millions of dollars.

And the company also released a statement confirming the departure: “Ross has done a terrific job during his time at Yahoo!. We wish him all the best.”

Levinsohn also had a memo to staff, which is also below.)

Levinsohn, who took over as interim CEO in the wake of the ouster of Scott Thompson earlier this year, had been running the Americas unit of the Silicon Valley Internet giant. That put him in charge of key Yahoo businesses, including its media and advertising sales divisions.

Levinsohn and Mayer have been negotiating his exit for several days, sources said, which is not surprising given the awkward circumstance between them.

While Mayer might have benefited from Levinsohn’s close ties with key marketing players and his content experience, her intense focus on products and not on media likely means that she will rely on a more tech-heavy leadership team going forward.

It will be interesting to see who she picks going forward. As I previously reported, many think she will pull from the ranks of former and current Google execs, where she worked for her entire career before Yahoo.

Levinsohn does not apparently have any current plans for another gig, but as an experienced and very well-liked online media exec, he will likely have many options.

He came to Yahoo in late 2010, replacing Hilary Schneider, in the regime of Carol Bartz, who was later fired.

Levinsohn arrived at Yahoo from Fuse Capital, where he worked with Jon Miller — now chief digital officer at News Corp. — in funding digital media and communications start-ups.

But, until his Yahoo job, Levinsohn was probably best known for his stint running digital operations for News Corp.’s then Fox Interactive Media unit.

It was at FIM that he rose to prominence after he bought Myspace, the social networking site that was once the hottest property on the Web.

At the time, Levinsohn and other execs also struck a gigantically lucrative advertising search deal with Google that garnered Myspace huge revenues.

After leaving News Corp. — after repeated clashes with Myspace co-founder and then CEO Chris DeWolfe — he partnered with Miller in another investment company, Velocity Capital.

Ironically, both Miller and Levinsohn were the top choices of billionaire shareholder activist Carl Icahn as the execs he wanted to run Yahoo when he was agitating for change there a few years back in the midst of the failed takeover attempt by Microsoft.

Fast forward several years, with Levinsohn losing his shot as CEO of Yahoo, after yet another hedge fund manager — Dan Loeb of Third Point, who waged a Yahoo proxy fight that ended in him getting seats on the board — strongly backed Mayer for the job instead of Levinsohn.

Levinsohn never had a chance against the tech-star resume of Mayer, of course. But, for his time of taking over Yahoo after the crisis around the ouster of Thompson over a fake computer science degree on his bio alone — a rocky period for the company, to be sure — Levinsohn probably deserves a lot of kudos from Yahoo’s board.

More to come, obviously.

But here is the Mayer note about Levinsohn’s departure in full:

Subject: Thank You to Ross Levinsohn

Do Not Forward

I am writing to let you know that Ross Levinsohn will be leaving the company at the end of July.

Ross has been an important and powerful contributor at Yahoo since he joined in 2010. During May and June, Ross stepped into an incredibly tough role as interim CEO and did a terffic job — he really helped keep the company moving, closed important deals, and assembled a very talented team. I am very grateful to Ross for his leadership and work throughout his tenure at Yahoo. His contributions will be missed.

Ross will be in Sunnyvale tomorrow (Tuesday, July 31). Please take the opportunity to drop by and thank him for all he has done for the company. I hope you can join me in wishing Ross well and letting him know how much you’ve appreciated him as a colleague.

– Marissa

I wanted to let you know that my time at Yahoo has come to an end. It has been an incredible journey for me and I could not be prouder of what we accomplished over the past few years helping define Yahoo as a leader in digital media and advertising. Yahoo is an amazing brand and company, and I leave knowing we did all we could to help inform and entertain more than 700 million users each month. Leading this company has been one of the best experiences of my career, but it is time for me to look for the next challenge.

– Ross

Mike Callahan, Yahoo’s longtime and powerful general counsel, is leaving the company.

According to an internal memo, which is embedded below, Callahan does not have another job. But sources said that he has been considering departing the Silicon Valley Internet giant since the beginning of the year.

Ron Bell, who is now deputy GC for products and the Americas region, has been named interim GC reporting to interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.

It’s all very interim (except me — I started covering Yahoo in the mid-1990s and I never go away!).

Callahan has been around a long time too, serving as the top lawyer at the company for almost a decade, after arriving at Yahoo in 1999. In his job, he has been in charge of legal affairs and public policy globally.

In addition, he has played a very powerful role on a range of strategic, corporate governance and transactional issues at Yahoo.

That has included everything from Yahoo’s nasty hostile takeover battle with Microsoft to its eventual search and advertising partnership with the software giant. He has also been a key adviser to Yahoo’s musical chair series of CEOs over the last few years.

Callahan has also been deeply involved in Yahoo’s current patent settlement negotiations with Facebook — which, by the way, he was integral to waging under former CEO Scott Thompson.

Those talks are ongoing, although complex, with a likely cross-licensing agreement at some point in July.

Sources said that Callahan’s departure has nothing to do with the current investigation into the circumstances around the fake computer science degree on Thompson’s bio that caused a firestorm at Yahoo.

Several directors are looking into the controversy, most especially how the false information got into Yahoo’s legal filings.

That aside, the quiet and self-effacing Callahan has certainly been one of the steadier members of the management team over the years and his departure from Yahoo is a major one.

Here’s the memo that Levinsohn just sent around to the troops:

From: “Yahoo! Inc.”
Reply-To: “Yahoo! Inc.”
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:00:14 -0700
To: All Worldwide
Subject: Executive Changes

Yahoos:

I’m writing to let you know about a change in our executive ranks and to wish a long time Yahoo goodbye. After twelve and a half years with Yahoo!, and almost nine years as our General Counsel, Mike Callahan has notified me of his decision to leave Yahoo! so that he can move on to new opportunities. We would like to thank him sincerely for his time at the Company.

During his time as General Counsel, Mike helped structure, recruit and retain a world class global team of legal, public policy, intellectual property, compliance and other professionals. Mike and his team have set the industry standard for substantive excellence, business partnership, creativity and, importantly, have had fun doing it. The long tenure of many of the legal and policy team is a credit to the organization that Mike has built. He has focused on team building, communication, and trust between department members and they have been a great contributor to the company at large.

In my time with Yahoo!, Mike has been a leader and great partner to me and the entire executive team and we will miss his calm demeanor and practical, results oriented advice. Along with the Board, I would like to thank Mike for his loyalty and service, and wish him well in whatever comes next for him.

With Mike’s departure, I am pleased that another long time legal Yahoo, Ron Bell, currently Deputy General Counsel for Products and the Americas Region, has agreed to serve as interim General Counsel reporting to me. Ron joined Yahoo! in July 1999, and over that time has served in numerous senior roles in the legal department, including as a Deputy General Counsel for the last 9 years — and has made his mark on many of our most strategic deals and initiatives over the years. Please join me in thanking Ron for stepping up into this new role and welcoming him to the executive team.

Ross

ross
Levinsohn

Interim CEO
& Head of Global Media

And here is the regulatory filing on Callahan’s departure to make it officially official:

YHOO-20120629-8K-20120628

Riley, who has had a number of jobs at the Silicon Valley Internet giant over 14 years, was most recently the head of its critical Americas advertising unit, a job he just got under recently ousted CEO Scott Thompson.

But Yahoo’s new interim CEO Ross Levinsohn hired high-profile online advertising exec Michael Barrett this week as chief revenue officer in charge of global sales.

As part of the changeover in power, Riley stepped down from his job and it was unclear what his status at Yahoo would be.

Now it is clear, although it does not appear that Riley is headed to a new job.

Thus, here’s the sartorially elegant exec’s goodbye email to staff:

Hey Team,

After almost 14 years as a Yahoo!, I have made the difficult decision that it is time for my next adventure. I will be around for a couple of months to ensure a smooth transition. Yahoo! has been far more than a job for me. From the first time I walked into the office in Santa Clara in 1998, I was absolutely taken by the magic of this company, its talent, and its enormous potential. Through the dotcom boom, bust and subsequent events, I have ridden the purple wave with pride and enjoyed almost every minute of it. I’ve laughed, cried and fought the good fight alongside some of the most talented people with whom I could ever hope to work. I remain eternally bullish on the prospects for our company and will be cheering you on as a shareholder and proud alum.

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo has hired high-profile advertising exec Michael Barrett to be its chief of revenue.

Sources said Barrett will be in charge of ad revenue and operations worldwide, including units in the U.S., Europe and Asia reporting in to him. Barrett will report directly to interim CEO Ross Levinsohn when he starts in July.

(Update: Yahoo confirmed the hiring in a press release.)

The move to hire the experienced Barrett — who has been working at Google since it bought an ad tech company he ran a year ago — is a significant one, giving the company a boost in its most critical area of business.

It is also a clear signal that the Silicon Valley Internet giant is about to make major changes to its ad business going forward. According to numerous sources, Yahoo is again mulling a plan to abandon or sell its large parts of its ad tech business and rely on third-party vendors.

In fact, it has been in talks with Google about taking over its automated ad sales and ad network operations, while focusing instead on premium ad sales and sponsorships. Yahoo is also considering turning its entire search business over to Microsoft, with which it already has an ad partnership.

“Yahoo is going to be a media company again — in the digital ad sales business and not in the ad tech business,” said one person.

That impending change has already caused much debate within Yahoo already, with sides drawn between those who think Yahoo should not outsource its core ad technology and those who believe that the company lost the battle to others already — most especially Google — due to poor execution over the years.

While there have been a variety of multibillion-dollar plans drawn up by some to double down on Yahoo’s ad tech business, that effort has now been supplanted by a feeling that the company needs to quickly get out of businesses it cannot win in or see growth.

Barrett is one of the few obvious choices to usher in a new era, given his long experience in all aspects of both digital and traditional media.

He used to work with Levinsohn at Fox Interactive Media, but came to Google a year ago, when the search giant bought AdMeld for $400 million. Barrett was CEO of the supply-side advertising technology platform, which worked on behalf of publishers by trying to get the best prices for their inventory from a variety of ad networks.

Barrett has also worked in ad jobs at a range of companies, including AOL and Disney Online, as well as at Meredith Publishing and Newsweek. He even previously worked at Yahoo, when it bought GeoCities, back in the Web 1.0 era.

As part of the changes, sources said, current Americas sales head Rich Riley will be stepping down from the job he just got under ousted CEO Scott Thompson. He will remain at the company, but it is not clear in what position.

Yahoo’s embattled CEO Scott Thompson (pictured here) is set to step down from his job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, in what will be dramatic end to a controversy over a fake computer science degree that he had on his bio, according to multiple sources close to the situation.

The pair will apparently say he is departing for “personal reasons.” Sources said that Thompson will be claiming to be leaving due to a serious illness that he recently discovered he had.

But the evolving crisis — which is just over a week old — centered on his botched resume and how he handled the thorny issue is the key reason for the abrupt end to his tenure as a CEO.

Thompson’s likely replacement on an interim basis will be Yahoo’s global media head Ross Levinsohn, who most recently also ran its Americas unit, including its advertising sales.

In addition to the management upheaval, Yahoo’s board is closing in on a settlement with the man who discovered Thompson’s misstep, activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point, said sources.

The situation could change, since Yahoo’s full board still has to meet this morning to officially approve the sweeping changes at the long-troubled company.

But, if it is, this development goes a long way toward fixing some of what has been ailing Yahoo recently.

And it’ll also be a stunning victory for Loeb (pictured here), since the pugnacious hedge fund investor is set to get three board seats from a slate proposed by him as part of a proxy fight aimed at Yahoo. The new Yahoo directors will be media exec Michael Wolf and turnaround specialist Harry Wilson. Loeb’s fourth selection — former NBC head Jeff Zucker — will withdraw.

The five current Yahoo directors — who were to step down at the company’s annual meeting this summer — will leave the board effective immediately, sources said, to make way for the Third Point selections.

Finally, Yahoo’s recently added director Fred Amoroso will be named chairman of the board.

Amoroso is the director who has been conducting the investigation into the issues raised by Loeb about how the fake academic credentials got in Thompson’s public bios, as well as in Yahoo’s regulatory filings, and also the hurried circumstances around his hiring in January.

Those mysteries — read, screw-ups — might never be solved now, although Thompson made a convoluted attempt to explain it all in two awkward employee meetings at the end of last week. In those gatherings, according to numerous sources, he blamed a headhunting firm for introducing the mistake when he was being hired for a job at eBay in the mid-2000 timeframe.

That company, Heidrick and Struggles, slapped back last week with an internal memo, noting that Thompson’s claim was “verifiably not true.” Sources said that Heidrick told Yahoo’s board that it was in possession of a resume that Thompson had apparently submitted showing the inaccurate CS degree on it.

That memo, impugning Thompson’s credibility, was one of many that piled on to create an impossible situation for the Yahoo board, related to his leadership ability going forward.

Thompson had also previously issued a Yahoo statement, in which he apologized for the “distraction” caused by the problematic resume, but not for the mistake itself.

And, initially, Yahoo — under his direction — had called the borked resume an “inadvertent error.”

Such fumbling to fix the situation was among the many other issues that the board has been considering relating the ability of Thompson to remain in his job. Also of importance was the sinking morale of Yahoo employees, who had largely rejected Thompson’s excuses in the ResuMess scandal.

Internal message boards at Yahoo lit up all last week, with staffers largely rejecting his explanations. In addition, a number of top execs and engineers approached the board calling for Thompson’s firing.

While that’s not precisely what happened here, it’s close enough to describe Thompson’s departure as inevitable.

All this change comes in the wake of a massive restructuring he was in the midst of at Yahoo, after 2,000 employee layoffs.

Thompson was pushing forward a vision of adding a much more significant data and commerce element to Yahoo’s largely ad-based business.

That is likely to be less stressed under media-focused Levinsohn, who will be essentially trying out to be the permanent CEO.

Well known in the media and advertising communities, he has worked at a number of big online efforts over many years.

According to his bio at Yahoo, where he arrived in 2010:

He previously served as the President of News Corporation’s Fox Interactive Media, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations, strategy and acquisitions that helped transformed the company into a leader in digital media. He also held senior management positions with AltaVista, an early pioneer and leader in search, CBS Sportsline where he oversaw all content and development for the top rated sports site, and HBO where he launched and oversaw a unit developing new programming and revenue streams. Levinsohn also was the co-founder and managing director of Fuse Capital, an investment and strategic equity management firm focused on investing in and building digital media and communications companies.

Levinsohn sits on the board of Freedom Communications and the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from The American University.

So far in my checking, Levinsohn’s resume is accurate.

More to come, obviously.

I have emails and texts and calls into everyone for comment, but apparently they are all out at a Mother’s Day brunch (except me).

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• Yahoo’s Parting With Thompson Will Be for “Cause” (a.k.a. CSLie)
• Ross Levinsohn’s Yahoo Plan: Back to the Future
• Here’s New Yahoo CEO’s First Note to Troops! (The Leaking-Internal-Memos-to-ATD Policy Remains in Effect As Usual)
• Yahoo Officially Confirms ATD Report on CEO Changes and Proxy Settlement
• Meet the Man I Call “The Hair”: The Video Stylings of Yahoo’s Newest CEO Ross Levinsohn
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• Is He In or Is He Out? Crunchtime for Scott Thompson at Yahoo.
• Not So Scott Free? Yahoo’s Other Big Shareholder — Cap Re — Leaning Toward Supporting Loeb Over Thompson ResuMess.
• Tech Nation’s Gunn Says She and Yahoo CEO Discussed Their CS Degrees Before 2009 Show (Video and Audio)
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• They Shoot Yahoo CEOs, Don’t They? But Not Without a Really Smoking Gun and a Much Stronger Board.
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According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo’s massive round of layoffs — which is likely to impact up to 2,000 employees — is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg that will hit the storied Silicon Valley Internet giant in the months to come.

Sources said Yahoo is currently planning to announce the cuts in staff in the early morning, just as the markets open. That could change, of course, but the cuts will definitely occur within the next two days.

The layoffs, which will touch all units of the company, are expected to hit hardest in the product division, which is headed by Blake Irving.

But the fate of two key parts of the soon-to-be-blown-apart unit — Yahoo’s advertising technology businesses, Right Media and APT, and its search business — is still being contemplated, as I have previously reported. Possible scenarios include a sale or a joint venture transaction for both, which employ thousands of Yahoo staffers.

Also set to be hard hit are Yahoo’s local businesses, as well as its marketing and research divisions. While still sustaining losses, its media units will not be as badly impacted. And it’s not clear how many employee terminations will be aimed at the company’s general and administrative staff.

The layoffs tomorrow are not the end of the road in cutting costs. Along with the likely shedding of its ad tech and search businesses, Yahoo leadership is also looking at future cuts as it evaluates current businesses, which could lop even more employees off its roster.

That said, Yahoo will be “doubling down” in some older and new arenas, so there would also be simultaneous hiring in the months ahead.

But not tomorrow, which will be one of the tougher days in Yahoo’s long history of periodic layoffs. Newly installed CEO Scott Thompson had told employees in memos and also in recent meetings that “real change” was coming to the company.

That is indeed the case, which is causing massive strain throughout the company, which now employs over 14,000 and has many thousands more hired as contractors.

Along with the trauma of the layoffs, Yahoo is also facing two other tense face-offs externally. In one, activist shareholder Third Point is waging a proxy fight for board seats and stepped up the public pressure this week; and Facebook struck back hard at Yahoo’s patent lawsuit with a counter-claim of its own.

After the layoffs tomorrow, sources say Yahoo will be announcing a new organization by next week, which will create several major, soup-to-nuts units at the company. Thompson, along with consultants he has hired from the Boston Consulting Group, are making what appear to be profound changes.

Sources said Yahoo will most likely be comprised of a global media division, one that encompasses Yahoo’s consumer products businesses and one focused on global and regional sales. There could also be a small organization of about 50 employees aimed at future innovation.

Americas head Ross Levinsohn is pegged to run the media arm, which will also include its leads/commerce businesses, such as autos; Shashi Seth — who now heads search and marketplaces — is likely to run consumer products, which will include Yahoo’s communications and search businesses.

Yahoo has already been conducting a search for a new worldwide sales head, who will also be boss of the U.S., Asia and Europe, Middle East and Africa sales regions. Rich Riley, who was recently running EMEA, is reportedly the pick for U.S. sales; Rose Tsou, who is running Asia, would presumably stay put; Yahoo is looking for an EMEA sales lead.

Some current operational execs — such as service engineering and ops head David Dibble, CFO Tim Morse, and top lawyer Mike Callahan — are likely to continue to operate as before.

One big question mark is how Chief Product Officer Irving fits in the possible new org, in which the new units get control of their product development. Irving has reportedly had several incoming job offers, although it is not clear if he has responded to that interest.

Let’s hope that Yahoos who will be let go tomorrow find themselves with many new employment choices after the ax falls.

Yahoo is preparing to begin layoffs of what could be thousands of employees starting next week, according to multiple sources, and is then expected to announce a new restructuring of the company the week after.

The swirl at the Silicon Valley Internet giant has grown more intense this week, as new CEO Scott Thompson has brought in top management for a series of meetings both Tuesday and Wednesday to outline the plans.

What has emerged — although sources noted that Thompson and others communicating the pending changes said nothing was yet set in stone — is the picture of a drastically slimmed-down organization with a focus on media, advertising and new but unclear “future” initiatives.

First the layoffs: Sources said the cuts will be deep and mostly aimed at the product, research and marketing units of Yahoo, which are likely to take place Wednesday. The ultimate goal, said multiple sources, is to cut many thousands from Yahoo’s staff of close to 14,000 employees, which is actually much larger, due to contract workers not officially in its roster.

The entire cut will not take place at once, said sources, since Thompson and others are still trying to figure out how to dispense with its ad technology org and, potentially, its search business. He has been in discussions with both Microsoft and Google about this, although there are other possibilities, too.

Both these parts of Yahoo together have about 2,500 staffers, whose fate is not yet sorted out.

Also still baking is the new structure, although sources said it is most likely to be comprised of a global media division, one that encompasses Yahoo’s communications and search businesses, and ones focused on global and also regional sales. There could also be a small organization of about 50 aimed at future innovation.

Americas head Ross Levinsohn is the likeliest exec to run the media arm, while Shashi Seth — who now heads search and marketplaces — would be the obvious candidate for the the communications/search one.

Thompson has already been conducting a search for a new worldwide sales head, although one possible internal exec for the job could be Rich Riley, who was recently running Yahoo’s Europe, Africa and Middle East region.

It is not clear how Chief Product Officer Blake Irving fits in the possible new org, since much of the development could now move to the decentralized units.

Some current operational execs — such as service engineering and ops head David Dibble, CFO Tim Morse, and top lawyer Mike Callahan — are likely to continue to operate as before.

Thompson, along with consultants he has hired from the Boston Consulting Group, presented the possible plan in front of Yahoo’s senior execs on Tuesday. That was followed by more meetings with a wider range of top management yesterday, although Thompson was not as highly specific in these meetings.

In fact, according to a half-dozen sources, Thompson apparently grew somewhat testy in one of the gatherings, when asked if there was a strategy he was going to announce in more detail to the group.

(Dear Scott, these are very talented employees who love the company and who have been through the wringer and it’s not their fault that leadership has failed them, so it might be a good idea to treat them with as much respect as possible right now.)

More to come, obviously.

Today, Fortune magazine released its annual “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” and, as usual, it had its share of tech execs on the list.

And off it, too — first and foremost being ousted Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, who was jacked completely from her 2010 No. 10 rank. She was No. 8 in 2009.

In her place: Newly designated Hewlett-Packard CEO and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman grabbed the No. 9 spot.

Also on the list: fast-rising IBM sales, marketing and strategy exec Ginni Rometty at No. 7; Xerox CEO Ursula Burns at No. 8; Oracle President and CFO Safra Catz at No. 11; Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at No. 12; Google execs Susan Wojcicki and Marissa Mayer at No. 28 and No. 38, respectively; IBM North America GM Bridget Van Kralingen at No. 39; and Best Buy Americas President Shari Ballard.

Catz was the highest paid of the group, with $42.1 million in total 2010 compensation.

And also taken off this year: 2010 No. 14, HP’s Ann Livermore, who left her top job there, but still is on the tech giant’s board; 2010 No. 28 Cathie Lesjak, CFO of HP; 2010 No. 44 Lorrie Norrington, a former president at eBay; and Apple’s communications head Katie Cotton (she was robbed!), who was No. 50 in 2010.

The new list will be in the magazine on Monday, which is when a related conference will take place in Southern California. (I will also be in attendance there, along with other less powerful ladies.)

Whitman is scheduled to speak at the conference in the afternoon on Tuesday, October 4.

In a blog it just posted, Groupon said its recently hired COO, Margo Georgiadis, “has decided to return to Google (her former employer) in a new role as President, Americas.”

She was only hired in April, just months before the company filed to go public. Georgiadis was previously VP of Global Sales at Google.

(Interesting way to get a better title at the search giant, Margo!)

Georgiadis was in charge of the company’s global sales, marketing and operations at the Chicago-based social buying service.

Sources said that the hiring did not gel on either side.

It might not be Georgiadis’ fault. She replaced Rob Solomon, who was in his job for one year.

And here’s another: PR hire Brad Williams, a longtime Silicon Valley communications exec, who was there and then gone in what felt like 23 minutes.

It seems Groupon does not like Silicon Valley types or, perhaps, vice versa.

Since its IPO filing, in fact, it feels as if it has been a non-stop circus disaster at Groupon.

That has included immense controversy about its sketchy accounting, huge slugs of venture funding going to its founders and a lot of worries about its growth.

Today, in a Friday late afternoon dumping of bad news in hopes that no one notices (I do), Groupon also amended its S-1 public offering filing once again to change revenue metrics and also add a controversial internal letter that CEO and co-founder Andrew Mason sent to employees to counter its many and growing critics.

There appear to be many more shoes dropping soon, said sources, so stay tuned.

Until then, here’s the whole and very terse — for Mason — post:

Update on the Groupon Team

As a fast-growing company, we’ve done a lot of hiring this year, including on our senior executive team. Since the beginning of this year, we’ve made a total of 8 additions — that’s 57% of the total executive team. It would have been great if I could say that we batted 1,000%, but that’s rarely the case; after five months at Groupon, Margo Georgiadis, our COO, has decided to return to Google (her former employer) in a new role as President, Americas.

We’ve built a fantastic team that has proven itself highly capable, so this change won’t have an impact on operations. In fact, we are using it as an opportunity to reorganize in a way that reflects our evolving strategic priorities. Sales, Channels, International, and Marketing will now report directly to me.

Here’s a note from Margo: “Groupon is a great company and I feel privileged to have worked there even for a short time. It was a hard decision to leave as the company is on a terrific path. I have complete confidence in the team’s ability to realize its mission.” We wish her well.

At a prequel for the many VPs of Yahoo to the all-hands meeting for all 13,500 employees of the Silicon Valley Internet giant that is taking place at 11 am, Yahoo co-founder, director and former CEO Jerry Yang told the group the company was “not for sale.”

Even though, of course, it was hiring advisory firms, such as Allen & Co., to explore strategic options. Many justifiably feel “for sale” is just what Yahoo is.

Instead, Yang reassured the troops that it was business as usual at the company, in spite of the abrupt firing of its current CEO Carol Bartz yesterday.

One attendee emailed me: “Really?“

Yang told the group that the aim was to grow revenue and profit, but did not put forth a specific plan as yet. He also said the search was on for a new CEO.

Meanwhile, interim CEO Tim Morse spoke only at the end of the meeting, for the last 10 minutes.

Morse continued to be Yang’s sidekick at the all-hands meeting later, in which they reiterated their no-sale motto.

Still, the troops were restless and the event included a lot of pointed questions from employees about the ouster of Bartz and how that was going to get the company growing again.

One employee asked the board to give Bartz’s $10 million severance package to charity, to much applause.

Another query was about the shift on Bartz by Yahoo’s Chairman Roy Bostock, who praised her performance earlier this summer at the annual meeting.

How, asked the employee, did Yahoo go from full support of Bartz to fired? The basic answer from Yang: Things change!

Another employee asked about the bid to buy the Hulu premium video service. Americas head Ross Levinsohn’s answer: Yahoo did not need it to win.

Both Levinsohn and product head Blake Irving stressed how big Yahoo still is, although Yahoo’s kind of big today might not mean better.

Employees — I love them for channelling exactly what I would have asked — pressed Morse on when the strategery would be done this time. A few months, he said.

But perhaps the toughest query was about how did the board fire the CEO without first having a plan in place, which the questioning employee noted had further worsened trust issues with Yahoo leadership.

It got the biggest applause.

Trust us, said Yang.

That’s a big ask for beleaguered Yahoo staffers these days.

Meanwhile, Yahoo filed a new-less 8-K regulatory filing today about the Bartz firing.

In it, Yahoo wrote: “No new compensatory or severance arrangements were entered into in connection with these leadership changes. Ms. Bartz will receive severance benefits
for termination without cause as provided in her employment and equity award agreements.”

Here it is:

YHOO-20110907-8K-20110906

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• Exclusive: Carol Bartz Out at Yahoo; CFO Tim Morse Named Interim CEO
• Carol Bartz’s Last F%*& You — Now Aimed at Yahoo Board
• Yahoo’s Statement on Bartz Ouster
• Wall Street Likes Bartz’s Firing — Yahoo Stock Spikes on News
• My Picks for Yahoo’s Next CEO — Maybe Snoop Dogg, Ya Digg?

The firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz leaves open one of the bigger and more difficult jobs in tech — one that has taken its toll on many.

Nonetheless, rapper Snoop Dogg stepped right up to the Twitter plate yesterday, as soon as news broke of the ouster.

Tweeted Snoop Dogg:

“Im takn over as tha CEO of Yahoo. Need sum of tha Snoop Dogg content ya digg. Nuff Said.”

Not nearly nuff!

Thus, while the Yahoo board has yet to begin a search, I have already been hard at work on selecting the next CEO.

(Last time, the company took none of my suggestions, but after the most recent result, the directors might want to pay mind!)

Sources said Yahoo is looking for an experienced Internet type, either from inside or outside the company.

“Yahoo has put its flag in the ground as a digital media company with a technology base,” said one source. “The job requires big buckets of expertise and needs someone who will grow the company.”

Here I go with the outsiders:

Peter Chernin: The former News Corp. exec has been eyeing Yahoo for a possible takeover with other investors. Both Yahoo and I had picked him when co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as CEO almost three years ago, and he had declined the offer. This time, perhaps a big chunk of the company and total autonomy would work, even if making a hit like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is more fun.

Sheryl Sandberg: The COO of Facebook is sort of the anti-Bartz, with a smooth and efficient persona, and she is an experienced tech exec. But the former Google exec is at a place of growth at the social networking site, and is unlikely to want to leave the big show, especially since a blockbuster IPO is looming.

Jason Kilar: The Hulu CEO is in the midst of the process of selling the premium video service, with Yahoo as a bidder. While he has some tense relations with the studios, Kilar is top notch in his dedication to consumer products, and has a lot of experience from his stint at Amazon, too.

Dan Rosensweig: Currently CEO of IPO-headed Chegg textbook rental service, the former Yahoo exec never got a chance to run the company as its top leader. Well-connected and still well-liked by the troops at Yahoo, it still would be pretty hard for him to go home again.

Dave Goldberg: Sure, he’s married to Sandberg (see above), but the savvy CEO of polling phenom SurveyMonkey is one of the sharpest thinkers in Silicon Valley. He sold his music company to Yahoo many years ago and has a strong background in consumer online services.

Jon Miller: The chief digital exec at News Corp. almost got the CEO spot years ago when Carl Icahn was agitating for change at Yahoo, before Time Warner blocked him via a noncompete. With the mishegas at the media giant, and dwindling digital businesses there, it might be a good escape hatch for Miller.

Susan Wojcicki: The accomplished Google exec, who runs all its ad products, has the kind of calm, cool, collected persona that Yahoo could use right about now. The search giant was founded in her garage, and she has been a key part of its success since then. Wojcicki is also an understated class act in hey-look-at-me Silicon Valley.

Todd Bradley: The Hewlett-Packard exec just got blindsided when the company kicked webOS to the curb. While he is in line to run a possible spinoff of the device business, Bradley might also want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Mike McCue: The CEO of Flipboard would certainly energize Yahoo with his intense focus on quality and consumer delight. The news app start-up could be a good addition to Yahoo, and McCue, the former Netscape and Microsoft exec who is well-liked in the Internet scene, would be, too.

Joanne Bradford: The former Yahoo advertising head bolted Bartz’s regime early on to run revenue for Demand Media. Well-liked in the ad business, she also knows where all the bodies are buried at Yahoo. Since ads and media are key at the company, she’d make an interesting choice.

Yusuf Mehdi: The Microsoft online exec would also be a left-field candidate to run Yahoo, given his even-keeled personality and longtime experience in the sector. And, though pricey, Mehdi’s impact on Bing search has been important. But he’s also been involved in the software giant’s lackluster ad and search partnership and still has not turned around the situation at MSN.

Kevin Johnson: The former Microsoft exec and current CEO of Juniper was once slated to be the CEO of Yahoo, had Microsoft managed to win the company in its hostile takeover attempt. In fact, Johnson was the architect of the idea of Yahoo running the media and Microsoft running the tech.

Tim Armstrong: Well, he might have been a good candidate before the downward slide of AOL and a recent series of questionable judgments. If Armstrong can’t keep a loud tech blogger in line, it’s not clear he can wrangle the Yahoo beast.

And here’s the insider scoop:

Ross Levinsohn: The former News Corp. exec is running the Americas for Yahoo, which puts him in charge of the company’s key businesses. But he’s still struggling to turn the ad business around, and how well he does that could be a major determinant of his success. But fantastic hair!

Blake Irving: The former Microsoft exec has an amiable nature and is well-liked at Yahoo, but he still needs to show that the company can ship some innovative products, and quickly. Like Livestand, the news reader, which is muchly late.

David Kenny: The Yahoo board member is now president of Akamai, which might preclude him from the job. But the well-regarded exec — he’s a snazzy dresser, too — ran one of the Internet’s top digital ad agencies and now has tech chops from the content delivery network.

Memo to Yahoo board: I have a million more ideas, from former Viacom exec Tom Freston to former Yahoo board member Eric Hippeau. Or why not bring back a passel of former Yahoos to advise, such as former CEO Terry Semel or former president Sue Decker?

Or Oprah! I hear Winfrey will be in Silicon Valley later this week, and she has a lot more free time now.

Like Snoop Dogg, she would fo shizzle be the bomb to cover.

Related posts

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• Exclusive: Carol Bartz Out at Yahoo; CFO Tim Morse Named Interim CEO
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• Yahoo’s Statement on Bartz Ouster
• Wall Street Likes Bartz’s Firing — Yahoo Stock Spikes on News
• My Picks for Yahoo’s Next CEO — Maybe Snoop Dogg, Ya Digg?

While they are only small transactions, two of Yahoo’s top execs — Americas head Ross Levinsohn and its Chief Product Officer Blake Irving (pictured here) — seem to have forked over their own dough to buy shares of the troubled company.

Levinsohn and Irving — like a lot of other Yahoos in the same leaky boat — have lots of stock options in the Silicon Valley Internet giant that are likely very much underwater these days. They also have hundreds of thousands of cost-free restricted stock units.

Still, with Yahoo shares in a free fall, the pair apparently bellied up to the bar and purchased stock directly last Friday and on Monday, according to required insider filings.

Levinsohn bought 10,000 shares at $11.61 and Irving got 10,000 at $11.23.

It seems they are the only high-ranking execs who have bought Yahoo stock in a while, including its CEO Carol Bartz, without some link to shares they have been given by the company and via programmed or automatic purchases and sales.

Executives buying shares of their own company often are an indicator of confidence in the company, and CEOs — such as AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has — often do it in dicey times to make a statement of belief in its prospects.

It will be interesting to see if other Yahoo top execs do the same.

Yahoo could certainly use the boost. Shares are down 23 percent since the beginning of the year, giving it an affordable $16.7 billion market valuation.

Still, while both men initially lost money in the current market turmoil that has also hit Yahoo hard, they seem to be up about $10,000 each, for now, on their approximately $110,000 bets that Yahoo shares are too low.

Its stock closed up today 9.3 percent, at $12.86.

Yahoo turned in another weak performance in the second quarter, with yet another decline in revenue.

This time it was five percent, compared to last quarter’s six percent. In other words, at least things are looking up as they go down!

While earnings per share rose smartly, Wall Street is still looking for strong sales growth from the Silicon Valley Internet giant, which seems unable to provide it.

Blamed most this time for the revenue fall: Yahoo’s changes in its display sales operations in the key Americas region, reasons for which were largely unspecified in the initial company press release. (You can see the damage in this slide deck from the company here.)

Maybe Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz will explain it all in its upcoming conference call with analysts (or she could try the I-don’t-know approach taken by News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in PhoneGate hearings in Britain earlier today!).

2 pm PT: It starts with the usual regulatory blah-blah, which I always enjoy.

Bartz gets right into it, opening with the key problems with China’s Alibaba Group, as well as its display and search revenue weaknesses.

The fight with Alibaba is over its Alipay payments unit, which was spun out of the Chinese company without Yahoo’s say-so. Yahoo is a big shareholder.

Bartz says that the company was working on a settlement night and day.

But she quickly gets onto how display did not perform as expected in its key Americas arena. “Obviously, I am not happy,” she said.

Obvi! Neither are shareholders, Carol.

She says it was not about new competitive development. It was not about the economy. It was not about engagement.

So what was it? Changes in its sales leadership and organization, says Bartz, which has included talent walking out the door in droves.

A lot more than Yahoo expected, but no surprise to anyone who has been paying any attention to the brain drain at the company.

Bartz promises a new approach to sales, part of its endless turnaround, which is beginning to feel like a digital version of “Waiting for Godot.”

Search revenue, though, says Bartz, was better than expected.

2:11 pm: CFO Tim Morse is on now, running through the numbers and the display shortfall in the Americas region.

“We simply did not have appropriate coverage,” says Morse, noting consumer products, tech and autos as weak spots in the advertising market.

Thank goodness, then, for the guarantees from search revenue in the Microsoft partnership deal.

More numbers and then it is back to Bartz to talk about search, which is going better than the last quarter, when it was the culprit for the revenue decline.

She says that Microsoft and Yahoo were working together to improve the issues.

“We’d like to be further down the road,” says Bartz about the goal of search revenue per search growth, as well as settling all the other problems, such as the Asian issues.

And, by further, I am presuming she means actual forward movement, which is what roads are actually for.

2:27 pm: Q&A time, the part of our program where Wall Street analysts do not ask the questions that need asking (and where I win fancy journalism awards for pointing this delta out!).

Therefore, Bartz is first thanked for providing “color” about the display disaster and is not asked about more specifics of the disaster itself.

The second question still does not get to it either, but she does note Yahoo’s sales force has to sell beyond “Gee, we’re big” and come up with better ad solutions.

“The issue is we did not have enough sales people in front of the big clients,” says Bartz.

That’s because all those former Yahoos are now working at Groupon, LivingSocial, Facebook and on down the line and now in front of big clients for those hotter companies.

2:34 pm: Question about its Asian assets. Yahoo’s talks with Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba are separate, says Bartz, although I would add that they have non-movement in common.

And also a question about Yahoo’s interest in the acquisition of the Hulu premium online video service.

Bartz winks verbally and says nothing, which translates into: Of course, it is interested.

More on the reasons for the display fall-off, which Bartz makes clear is not due to big competitive threats, but internal issues.

Maybe she’s saving big competitive threats as the reason for a revenue decline in the third quarter!

I look forward to the quarter I get the finger pointed at me for causing revenue to fall, due to my snarky posts.

Now, we are into softball questions about improvements in engagement. It’s up, but no one asks why Yahoo is still not doing anything very cutting edge in product innovation compared to competitors.

I believe Google has launched at least 14 new social networks since this Sunday, along with its strong quarterly performance last week. And Apple, well, blew away its quarter today as it is about to release more cool new stuff later this week.

And that might be the crux of the issue for Yahoo, which might not solve its woes by throwing a more focused sales army at the issue.

That’s because Yahoo’s products are simply not nearly has social as Facebook or even Google right now, which might be the true problem as old customers move on to new advertising solutions.

Whatever the reason, Yahoo clearly needs a refresh of its ad products and how it sells them, especially in its fast-growing mobile, video and communications products.

Bartz talks about getting better expertise, a tighter regional focus and other issues of going to market, which is perhaps something she might have realized many, many quarters ago.

After all, she’s been in charge for a while, and these issues are not new.

In fact, in an earlier quarter, Bartz was stressing “tentpole” events and anchor media properties and the power of the size of Yahoo as a selling point.

This was in April, in fact, in the first quarter of this year.

As I wrote then:

“CEO Carol Bartz excited was the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s traffic gusher for big tentpole events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars. In fact, Bartz practically sounded like a gushy “Entertainment Tonight” flunky when talking to Wall Street analysts about Yahoo’s Oscar news, games and other offerings. She proudly noted the site’s efforts generated more than a billion pages views.”

Now big is out! Moving on!

The last question is another about Yahoo’s talks with its Asian partners.

“It’s complex,” says Bartz.

You can say that again.

In the ongoing talent drain at Yahoo, longtime Yahoo search veteran Chi-Chao Chang (pictured right) is the next to swirl away from the Internet giant.

Chang was VP and GM of the global search business at Yahoo and has been at the company since 1999.

More importantly, he has been a key exec in Yahoo’s troubled search alliance with Microsoft, so there’s another plus for Yahoo (and by plus, I mean minus). It is not clear where Chang is headed.

On his LinkedIn profile, Chang described his job thus:

“I am responsible for Yahoo’s global search operations and marketplace, and am the executive manager of the Microsoft Search Alliance for the US/CA marketplace. My team runs in-region operations and marketplace analysis for Americas, Asia and Europe.”

But that’s not all today!

Also departing Yahoo is a top PR exec, May Petry (pictured left). She has held a number of different communications jobs at Yahoo over the years, including for its Connected Life unit, corporate and, most recently, for its Americas unit. Petry, who has previously worked at BEA Systems and Sun Microsystems, will head to Hewlett-Packard to run PR for its webOs unit.

(Note to May: I am just as interested in that action-packed business, so get ready!)

I contacted Yahoo for a comment (but let’s just assume I am right, because I am).

Longtime Internet exec Ross Levinsohn only got to Yahoo about seven months ago as head of its Americas region, but he certainly isn’t shy about touting its attributes vigorously.

Including talking about the size and power of the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s content and advertising business, which he is largely in charge of.

This, despite a number of troubling trends at Yahoo — from continuous talent drain to search advertising declines to its recent problems with its Asian partners.

And, of course, that persistently missing vision thing, as well as longtime shareholder dissatisfaction.

Yahoo’s shares are now trading in the low $15 range, and heading south as it heads into its annual meeting in two weeks.

But Levinsohn — the former News Corp. digital exec who was one of the livelier presences at Yahoo’s recent stock-unmoving investor conference — makes the case in this video interview that the company has what it takes to revive itself.

Plus, I finally find out the secret of the his hair-tastic coif — would that Yahoo could be as shiny and healthy.

(In case you need as much Yahoo info as possible, I also did a March video interview with its other top exec, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, who has different tonsorial attributes than Levinsohn.)

Here’s Levinsohn, whom I spoke with last week:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110609/yahoos-americas-ad-and-media-head-ross-levinsohn-talks-up-well-yahoo-video/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110511/exclusive-yahoo-looking-at-5to1-purchase/ http://allthingsd.com/20110511/exclusive-yahoo-looking-at-5to1-purchase/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 02:50:32 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=43853

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo is in advanced talks to buy 5to1, a self-serve premium advertising platform, for $25 million.

The Los Angeles start-up is run by Jim Heckman, a well-known Internet exec.

It also was co-founded and funded by Yahoo Americas head Ross Levinsohn, but he apparently divested himself from 5to1 when he joined Yahoo.

Levinsohn and Heckman worked together at Fox Interactive, a News Corp. unit.

The company had raised about $13 million in venture funding, including from Fuse Capital, which was where Levinsohn worked before coming to Yahoo.

That link is likely to make the deal, which is not yet complete, carefully scrutinized inside and outside Yahoo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110511/exclusive-yahoo-looking-at-5to1-purchase/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20110506/hold-the-sports-phone-ross-levinsohn-not-leaving-yahoo-for-hbo/ http://allthingsd.com/20110506/hold-the-sports-phone-ross-levinsohn-not-leaving-yahoo-for-hbo/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 18:45:36 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=43661

While there has been a report on a boxing news site that Yahoo Americas head Ross Levinsohn was leaving the Internet giant to run HBO’s sports unit, it’s not so.

Trust BoomTown on this one–I have all top Yahoo execs embedded with Apple iOS and Google Android location tracking devices.

Apparently, calling to ask about such a big move is tough one-two for BoxingScene.com, but Yahoo confirmed the non-departure and Levinsohn did too in a brief phone conversation.

“I’m not leaving,” he said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110506/hold-the-sports-phone-ross-levinsohn-not-leaving-yahoo-for-hbo/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20110407/exclusive-yahoo-loses-ma-head-to-zynga/ http://allthingsd.com/20110407/exclusive-yahoo-loses-ma-head-to-zynga/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:34:47 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=42451

Taylor Barada (pictured here), Yahoo’s recently appointed head of M&A, is joining Zynga in an unspecified role.

Barada replaced Andrew Siegel, who left Yahoo in December to join Condé Nast.

Yahoo staff was told of the move yesterday.

According to his bio at the Silicon Valley Internet giant:

“Taylor works with the Americas and Global Product orgs at Yahoo! leading strategic analysis/execution of acquisitions, divestitures, investments and other strategic relationships. Recent transactions include the sale of Zimbra to VMware and the acquisition of Citizen Sports. Prior to Yahoo! he worked as an investor, consultant, and operator at Rosewood Capital, Bain & Company, and Peregrine Systems. Taylor started his career as a professional soccer player and was a three time National Champion at the University of Virginia while completing his B.A. in History and Foreign Affairs.”

Barada’s departure to the San Francisco online gaming phenom–which was apparently able to extend him a more lucrative offer–will will put a crimp in Yahoo’s already slow-moving merger and acquisition strategies.

Yahoo declined to comment and I have emailed Zynga and have not yet heard back.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110407/exclusive-yahoo-loses-ma-head-to-zynga/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20110404/exclusive-yahoo-nabs-microsoft-exec-brett-wayn-to-run-local-efforts/ http://allthingsd.com/20110404/exclusive-yahoo-nabs-microsoft-exec-brett-wayn-to-run-local-efforts/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:26:46 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=42258

After it struck its online advertising and search partnership with Yahoo, Microsoft tapped longtime Internet exec Brett Wayn (pictured here) to work with Greg Nelson during the integration.

Well, Wayn must have liked what he saw at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, since he is bouncing there from his job at the Redmond, Wash. software giant to help run local efforts at Yahoo.

[UPDATING local roles at Yahoo.]

Wayn will be working for Chief Product Officer Blake Irving and will be responsible for product management of Yahoo’s local “horizontal.”

He will work closely with whoever Yahoo finds as a replacement for Matt Idema, a longtime Yahoo exec who shuttled over to Facebook as a director of business operations, working on the local arena.

Luke Beatty, who heads up Yahoo’s Americas region community and local businesses, including Flickr, Groups, Answers and hundreds of local sites, is doing Idema’s job for now within Americas head Ross Levinsohn’s unit.

Local is a hugely hot space right now, with a spate of Web focus from giants like Google and Facebook to powerful start-ups such as Foursquare and Groupon.

Wayn has more recently been working on international for Microsoft’s MSN portal. The Australian native has also worked at AOL and, interestingly, has an actual medical degree.

In other words: Paging Dr. Local, stat!

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110404/exclusive-yahoo-nabs-microsoft-exec-brett-wayn-to-run-local-efforts/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20110315/after-ad-changes-yahoo-media-unit-gets-a-management-shakeup/ http://allthingsd.com/20110315/after-ad-changes-yahoo-media-unit-gets-a-management-shakeup/#comments Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:26:34 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=41632

Last week, Yahoo’s advertising unit got the once-over from its new sales head Wayne Powers. And, this week, its new Audience unit head Mickie Rosen is making a series of executives moves.

First up, sources said that the current head of its powerful Yahoo News, Mark Walker, will be leaving for another another company and a new head of the news site is close to being hired.

Already hired is top Time Warner digital exec Ken Fuchs, who will now run Yahoo’s huge sports, games and entertainment sites. He ran all digital distribution at Time Inc. Digital, overseeing emerging platforms for more than two dozen Web properties. Before that, he also ran Sports Illustrated’s online site and, previous to that, worked in strategy and development for Fox Interactive Media.

And Associated Content head Luke Beatty will be adding a lot to his portfolio, now running the Americas region community and local businesses, including Flickr, Groups, Answers and hundreds of local sites.

Yahoo’s current local head Matt Idema, sources said, will likely be leaving the company.

Lastly, Erin McPherson will be running all of the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s much dispersed video offerings, branded and original entertainment, across the Americas region.

In related news, Matthew Rothenberg, product head at Flickr, said in a blog post that he was leaving the company.

Yahoo declined to comment on the moves.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110315/after-ad-changes-yahoo-media-unit-gets-a-management-shakeup/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110110/mickie-rosen-to-join-yahoo-as-audience-head/ http://allthingsd.com/20110110/mickie-rosen-to-join-yahoo-as-audience-head/#comments Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:30:08 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=39369

It’s not all departures!

Yahoo is hiring former News Corp. and Disney online exec Mickie Rosen (pictured here) to run its Audience unit, which includes the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s powerful content sites, sources said.

Starting next week, Rosen will report to Americas head Ross Levinsohn, who has worked with her before, at both News Corp. and Fuse Capital.

Her new title is SVP of the Yahoo Media Network, which is apparently a rebranding of Audience.

Previous to this job, Rosen was CEO of Tecca, a price-checking service Fuse created in partnership with Best Buy.

It’s likely she will remain based in the Los Angeles area, where Yahoo has a large office in Santa Monica, Calif.

The move is Levinsohn’s first management rejiggering since he took over last year, and there is likely to be more to come.

Rosen, who has also worked at the Fandango online movie ticketing site, will replace interim audience head Raymond Stern, who will be–as before–running partnerships and business development, as well as Yahoo’s listings business.

Rosen’s new job had actually been that of former Audience head David Ko, as well as former Media VP Jimmy Pitaro.

Ko left Yahoo and is now heading mobile games at Zynga, while Pitaro is a top digital exec at Disney.

More to come from Levinsohn, but here is Rosen’s bio from the Fuse Web site:

Mickie has over 20 years of operating, strategy and investing experience. For the past dozen years, she has been at the intersection of media and technology, in both large companies such as News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company and in small, early stage start-ups.

Prior to joining the firm, she was the head of entertainment for Fox Interactive Media where she was responsible for properties such as AmericanIdol.com, Rotten Tomatoes and the entertainment channels of MySpace. Mickie also led content acquisition across the Company, and was a lead in envisioning, structuring and negotiating Hulu, the premier video joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal.

Prior to Fox Interactive Media, Mickie was the head of product development, marketing and public relations for Fandango, where she helped lead the company from an early-stage start-up to profitability as it became a leader in its space (acquired by Comcast). Mickie was also a senior executive with an e-learning start-up, an Idealab! consumer robotics company and Disney’s Corporate Alliances group, where she negotiated deals and managed Disney’s top global partners such as Coca-Cola, American Express and AT&T.

Mickie built the foundation of her career with McKinsey & Company, where she spent seven years consulting with senior management on strategy, operational and organizational issues across a number of industries, including media and technology.
Mickie has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in Economics from UC San Diego, and is based in Los Angeles.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110110/mickie-rosen-to-join-yahoo-as-audience-head/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110105/yahoos-display-ad-vp-gm-departs-meanwhile-hair-tastic-u-s-head-reorgs-unit/ http://allthingsd.com/20110105/yahoos-display-ad-vp-gm-departs-meanwhile-hair-tastic-u-s-head-reorgs-unit/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:35:15 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=39184 David Zinman, Yahoo’s VP and GM for display advertising–who came to the company via its acquisition of BlueLithium ad network–is leaving the company and will be replaced by the CEO of Dapper, another ad-related Yahoo purchase.

Yahoo confirmed the move by Zinman (pictured here), after an inquiry by BoomTown, in a statement:

“David Zinman, Vice President & GM, Display Marketplace at Yahoo! has decided to leave the company, effective January 11. He’ll be working very closely with James Beriker, the former CEO of Dapper, who will take on David’s position, to ensure a smooth transition and build upon Yahoo!’s leadership position in display advertising.”

A source close to the company said the move was not part of a reorganization about to take place of the critical U.S. advertising unit by its new leader, Americas EVP Ross Levinsohn.

Levinsohn, who came to Yahoo in late fall, is now prepping a rejiggering of this management team, much as Chief Product Officer Blake Irving did soon after he arrived last April.

Unlike Irving’s, which included a number of significant exec departures, Levinsohn’s new structure is not expected to be as drastic, nor will it involve the massive layoffs that took place in the product unit in December.

Levinsohn, according to numerous sources inside the Silicon Valley company, seems to be off to a good start there, with many considering the fast-talking exec a “breath of fresh air.”

Or, perhaps, breath of hair.

Apropos of nothing, pretty much everyone I spoke to about his performance thus far comments on his very bouncy and behaving mane.

They are lovely locks, as I can attest, and as you can see here.

So, let’s hope Levinsohn can grow Yahoo’s stagnant revenue as well as he does his tresses.

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