“Mike Schroepfer’s new designation as Facebook’s CTO reflects the unique and important role he plays across the company,” Facebook told AllThingsD in a statement.

The position was previously unoccupied due to the departure of former CTO Bret Taylor last summer.

Schroepfer — or Schrep, as he’s more commonly known — has been at Facebook for nearly five years, overseeing all of the company’s engineering, infrastructure and mobile efforts, a key figure as the company tries to reinvent itself as “mobile first.” He joined Facebook after a three-year stint at Mozilla, where he also served as VP of engineering, and did time as an engineer and CTO of Sun Microsystems’ DataCenter Automation and Clustering Software Division. (What a mouthful.) Schroepfer currently sits on the board of Ancestry.com, and is also a trustee of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

He joins a strong executive team under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, with Sheryl Sandberg continuing to manage operations as COO, while CFO David Ebersman continues to handle the books.

Good timing, too, as we’ll be sitting down with Schrep at our D: Dive Into Mobile conference in New York City this April! How convenient. We’ll ask him all about what he’s got planned for the company going forward in his new role.

The culture-celebrating hijinks continue at Yahoo, it seems.

After free food and smartphones and even dressing up as a Yahoo purple banger, CEO Marissa Mayer now has a high-ranking exec dancing for employee enjoyment.

As part of an effort to improve participation in the annual Yahoo Employee Satisfaction Survey (YESS), Mayer instituted a punishment for the lowest participation rate of any division on her executive staff.

The culprit turned out to be Jackie Reses, EVP of people and development for Yahoo, which includes the unlikely combo of human resources and business development.

Thus, Reses apparently had to dance to the hit K-pop song “Gangnam Style” with her staff at the weekly FYI employee meeting at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ on Friday.

Despite having a rep as an intense New Yorker, said one employee, Reses has some “decent moves.” Others agreed.

Also decent was one of the top results of YESS, which showed that employee belief in the future vision of the company was up 32 points year over year.

That’s not a big surprise, given the upward trajectory of Yahoo’s shares of late. But, more to the point, it has a weak comparable in last year’s survey, which painted a picture of a deeply demoralized workplace. That’s because the 2011 YESS questions went out to employees the week that the company fired CEO Carol Bartz, with most of the responses gathered in the ensuing weeks.

Despite the improvement, this year’s YESS also still showed a lot of worry about whether Yahoo leadership can execute, and whether the company can achieve strong results over the long term.

[UPDATE: One reader said the Yahoo survey is now called YEES, the Yahoo Employee Engagement Survey. I could not determine if that name change had been made.]

That’s the question that at least one Wall Street firm was asking, in a downgrade of Yahoo stock today. In dropping Yahoo’s rank to “market-perform,” Sanford C. Bernstein analysts noted worries about its turnaround efficacy, a possibly jarring reorg of its advertising unit, and also whether the future sale of its assets in China’s Alibaba Group can save the day again, as it did for last quarter’s results.

“We think there may be upside from an eventual Alibaba IPO at a valuation much higher than $50B or a Yahoo! core turn-around, but it is hard to have high conviction in either given the facts we currently have,” said the report, in part. “In addition, there is manageable but real downside risk: reorganization (e.g., of the sales force) could be negative for revenues, management could decide to invest in growth now and cut excess later, and MSFT RPS guarantee could expire without a renewal.”

Those are all good questions for investors to ask, of course, although more have been caught up in the hype/hope ahead of actual performance gains.

Still, it’s no sweat to get caught up in digital execs being made to trip the light fantastic for their weak results. So, since I was not there to enjoy Reses’ performance, click here for an also fun-tastic JibJab Gangnam video I made of her.

Well, it wasn’t as tasty as free food this week at Yahoo, but in her second official all-hands meeting with employees — now reportedly called “Friday FYI” — new CEO Marissa Mayer rolled out another new Google-inspired Q&A tool to get the company talking about what matters.

The system allows anyone at the Silicon Valley Internet giant to post questions, ideas or suggestions on a variety of topics, which can then be voted up and down.

Actually, it’s been in use internally at — you guessed it — Google for some time, and is even available to the general public in a product called Google Moderator. Mayer has been importing a lot of corporate practices from the search giant where she worked for her entire career — from free food to better swag to these weekly confabs to, now, its method of hearing from the staff.

While Yahoo previously used its Messenger product to garner questions for its less-regular all-hands meetings, this is apparently a new interactive tool built by the company’s engineers (and not using Google’s free APIs, as far as I can tell).

It seems to be working fine, and there were a number of questions that bubbled up.

That included one about Mayer’s thoughts on her current executive team — which is still largely inherited from a series of previous administrations, despite some departures recently — and also how her regime will hold them accountable.

Algorithmic accountability among Yahoo execs? Things have changed!

Even better, declared the questioner of that particular query, to whoops from the audience: “I want an honest answer!”

But Mayer was diplomatic, only saying she was “pleasantly surprised” by the top execs. She also noted that the management would have quarterly goals that are transparent to the whole company. (I won’t say they do that at Google, but — ahem — they do that at Google.)

Mayer went through a number of questions in a precise and cut-the-mustard manner that employees seem to be enjoying, overall.

One very voted-up question was about leaks to the media, in particular to this Web site, and whether a board mole hunt has been successful (obviously not). Also, of course, what she was going to do about the situation.

Apparently, Mayer said she won’t be tracking down leakers, and that this new openness will solve the problem.

Good idea, but all that lovely transparency also needs some pretty good products if it’s going to work.

And product focus most definitely appears to be the path now. Mayer also showed off the new Yahoo Mail — which has been under revamp for a while, and was started under former Chief Product Officer Blake Irving — with some good response from Yahoos (last week, it was a look-see at its recent iteration of its IntoNow video offering).

There are other interface changes that have been in the works too, likely under the direction of Tim Parsey, Yahoo’s head designer, who also came on under Irving.

In fact, a lot of what Irving had pushed, including keeping advertising technology in-house and also maintaining control of key monetization engines, is the likeliest path going forward. The ad tech outsourcing deals, pushed by the interim CEO and his strategy head Jim Heckman, are apparently gone (and so are Levinsohn and now Heckman).

Also of interest to many at the company is the increased involvement of co-founder David Filo, who has become much less quiet under Mayer. I’d expect him to report directly to her — he’s actually been reporting for years to a variety of product and tech execs, despite owning more than six percent of Yahoo.

Thus, here’s my question for the new Q&A system for next week: So, when’s Jerry Yang showing back up?

In a positively Shermanesque blog post titled “A Clarification With Respect to Yahoo,” Marc Andreessen wrote that neither he nor partner Jeff Jordan would become an operating exec, including CEO, acting CEO, chairman or executive chairman at the troubled Internet giant.

Of course, if the VC firm wins the partial investment deal against other bidders, Andreessen will absolutely be a key player in the remaking of the company. Already, he and Jordan have met with numerous Yahoo execs as they have assessed the company.

The bid by Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz is about $16.50 a share for slightly less than 20 percent of the company. The group, which is competing with another bid by TPG Capital, has a lot of other plans around reviving Yahoo and dealing with its myriad of issues.

The reason for the pronouncement, sources said (and I am just boldly declaring myself) is because the firm is now in the middle of raising a mega-funding round of up to $1.5 billion and limited partners are worried about a lack of focus on its many other investments.

So Marc and Jeff are fully committed to moolah-making at the VC firm. Please pay no attention to the whole Yahoo mishegas over in that corner there!

Here’s the entire post (full disclosure — I got the Jordan part right, but surmised that Andreessen could become chairman if his group won the bid):

A Clarification With Respect to Yahoo

From Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz:

Over the last several weeks, there have been erroneous reports in the press that my partner Jeff Jordan and/or I might become an operating executive of Yahoo in some capacity.

To be crystal clear, neither Jeff, nor I, nor any of our partners at Andreessen Horowitz, are in the running for, or would accept, any operating role at Yahoo, including CEO, acting CEO, chairman, or executive chairman.

Jeff and I have high regard for Yahoo, but we are fully committed to our day jobs as general partners at Andreessen Horowitz and board members of our portfolio companies.

HP alleged that Adrian Jones, a senior vice president in its Asian operations, on Feb. 11 used a USB storage device to copy HP’s strategic and financial plans, sales figures, and employee data, among other information, according to a complaint filed in California Superior Court in Santa Clara County. Mr. Jones resigned five days later and didn’t return the copied files, the complaint says. A month later he told HP that he had accepted a similar position at Oracle.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Rivet’s departure follows that of CEO Dirk Meyer, who resigned back in January, also rather abruptly. No word yet on AMD’s plans to replace either exec. CFO Thomas Seifert continues to serve as interim CEO of the company.

Dutta, 49 years old, was eBay’s chief financial officer during its headiest growth period and later ran its PayPal and Skype divisions. He was most recently a partner at the private equity firm Elevation Partners. Dutta died at a Stanford University hospital after checking into the facility last week.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

A Yahoo representative confirmed Shim’s planned exit and said that Shim’s boss, Senior VP of Business Development Raymond Stern, will assume Shim’s responsibilities.

The move comes as the local deals market gets increasingly crowded, with both Facebook and Google getting in on the act. Yahoo itself announced a local offers program back in November, while Groupon rival LivingSocial scored a lot of attention and new customers last week with a nationwide deal on Amazon gift cards.

Google offered billions for Groupon, but in the end the company decided to stick it out and is clearly bulking up for a major battle.

Update: 9:47 am PT: Groupon confirmed the move, noting that Shim will be heading its efforts to expand Groupon’s reach on mobile devices, working alongside Mihir Shah, Groupon’s VP of mobile. “We’re thrilled to have him,” a Groupon representative told Mobilized.

No surprise then that it’s beefing up its executive team. Zendesk named Zack Urlocker chief operating officer. Urlocker is currently a former executive in residence at Scale Venture Partners. Before that he was an executive vice president at MySQL, and helped boost its sales to $100 million before it was acquired by Sun Microsystems.

Among the new Zendesk customers are Groupon, OpenTable and Zappos Insights, as well as established brands like Adobe and Sony Music. This news comes on the heels of its $19 million round of funding led by Matrix Partners late last year, along with Charles River Ventures and Benchmark Capital.

And with 9.2 million Google shares, it’s not like he needs the money, though his stake has suffered a significant decline in value since the company’s executive office shake-up. Prior to the announcement, Google shares were trading at around $641, making Schmidt’s stake worth about $5.9 billion. Today, they’re hovering around $608, making that stake worth $5.6 billion–down $300 million on news he’s stepping down as CEO. That’s a nasty little drop any way you look at it, though I’m sure the obscene size of the remaining sum makes it a bit easier to stomach. Perhaps the residuals from that new Eric Schmidt talk show reportedly in the offing will make up for it….

PREVIOUSLY:

• Talking Schmidt: Google’s CEO in His Own Words
• A Big Quarter From Google, and Shake-Up at the Top–Larry Page to Become CEO

There are many other Fortune 500 CEOs in the same boat, and they certainly have plenty else to do with their time than post Facebook photos from Davos.

But non-Twittering CEOs are likely a dying breed, as transparency and authenticity in corporate communications come into vogue, and the younger generations move up through the ranks.

Google’s entire executive leadership is particularly anti-social for an Internet company, although unlike Page, Eric Schmidt, its CEO of the last 10 years, had the gumption to at least try Twitter and post updates every couple of weeks.

That their bosses decline to participate in what many see as the future of the Web is particularly grating for some young Google employees.

While the company circles around launching its own fully fledged social strategy, many Googlers feel that accountability for “getting social” starts at the top by leaders using the products themselves, rather than outright ignoring them.

Certainly, Page is incredibly private in all sorts of situations, both online and off. Here’s a memorable section from Ken Auletta’s book “Googled”:

“Larry Page is aggressively disdainful of marketing and public relations. In early 2008, Page instructed Google’s public relations department, which consisted of 130 people, that he would only give them a total of eight hours of his time that year for press conferences, speeches or interviews.”

That doesn’t seem like an approach that will go over well now that Page will be CEO of a company of Google’s stature, although perhaps he could save some time by crafting short tweets in lieu of full speeches.

While Page seems to be ignoring the social Web’s existence (he said Thursday he thinks it’s at the “very very early stages,” ceding comment on the topic to his co-founder Sergey Brin), the category has already had a significant competitive effect on Google.

The company says social is not yet negatively impacting its search business, but there are other ways it is creeping in: Through a significant talent drain to companies like Facebook, and a tarnishing of the company’s position as a tech leader.

In a way, part of the reason Page took control seems to be in response to the rise of Facebook, although there are clearly many other factors at play).

That’s because Page has now reinstated himself in a sacred position in Silicon Valley: The founder CEO.

One of the most impactful things the social Web has done is raised a new founder CEO to the tip-top of the tech industry: Mark Zuckerberg.

And, according to sources, the rise of Zuckerberg has been especially hard for Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to watch.

Zuckerberg was also just named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, an honor Page and Brin have never received.

And his company also just arranged a deal to raise money at a $50 billion valuation, making his own stake worth $15 billion, which happens to be the approximate net worth of each Page and Brin.

(As for Zuckerberg’s social media presence, he obviously uses Facebook quite actively, and also has a bare-bones LinkedIn profile and a Twitter account that hasn’t been updated in more than a year. And, like Page, he would not be considered a social butterfly in real life.)

So now Page has returned to presumably make Google innovative again with the passion of a founder. But with 10 years elapsed since he last had the job, he may want to go out and do a little personal market research on this whole social thing.

Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.

It’s not yet clear why, and there are conflicting narratives developing around his as-of-yet unannounced departure. Some sources close to HP tell me he’s simply hopping trains and heading off to a new opportunity. But others claim he’s been replaced by an SAP executive recruited by CEO and former SAP chief Léo Apotheker.

Interestingly, SAP tells me that Bill Wohl, vice president of Global Field Communications and head of Integrated Communications for Co-CEO Bill McDermott, is leaving the company….

Reached for comment, HP declined to give one.

UPDATE: Sure enough, Wohl is indeed headed to HP, where he’ll serve as chief communications officer, reporting to Apotheker. Still no comment from the parties.

In the middle of the report, I embedded a video from a recent speech Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg made at a women-focused TED event, which I thought spoke eloquently to the topic.

In fact, the social networking giant–as well as social gaming site Zynga, social buying site Groupon, geolocation site Foursquare and microblogging site Twitter–was one of the companies without any women on its board.

Including Sandberg, although she attends its meetings (but not its executive sessions).

Here’s her TED talk, which is well worth watching:

In one memorable episode of the famous old short films “The Little Rascals,” after not getting invited to a party, the Our Gang little dudes decided to form their own group, comically called “The He-Man Woman-Haters Club.”

In other words: No girls allowed!

While it was wink-wink cute when Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat huffed and puffed about keeping out Darla–which they never ever could do–back in the last century, it’s not quite as adorkable when it comes to the boards of all the major Web 2.0 hotshots these days.

That would be Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare, none of which have any women as directors.

As in zero.

What’s most remarkable is that most of these start-ups are run by what I consider enlightened and open-minded entrepreneurs, mostly young enough to be part of a generation more inclined to value equality and diversity in the workplace.

In addition, each of these companies has a massive base of women consumers, in some cases well over 50 percent of its audience.

Thus, it would seem logical that in casting about for those to help guide these companies, one or two women leaders might slip in.

To be fair, it’s not for lack of trying, but of completion, as was the case with Twitter’s recent addition of three new board members.

They were longtime Silicon Valley exec Peter Currie, Flipboard CEO and co-founder Mike McCue and former DoubleClick leader David Rosenblatt.

All are deeply qualified for the Twitter board, which is obviously prepping for its next stage of growth and maturity.

But in its search, the San Francisco microblogging site did not manage to cast the net quite wide enough.

While sources said at least one prominent online woman exec was considered, there were some legitimate issues with her appointment, and it was not completed.

Still, one might imagine Twitter could have tried harder to find other workable choices.

Currently, the Twitter board is made up of the new trio, as well as Benchmark Capital’s Peter Fenton, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson, Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital, CEO Dick Costolo and co-founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey.

Things are not any better over at Facebook, which has several prominent women execs running the show, most especially its high-profile COO Sheryl Sandberg.

But, inexplicably, though she does attend board meetings, she is not yet a director of Facebook, nor is any other woman.

In fact, here is Sandberg on topic at a recent TED event for women, in an eloquent speech titled “Why We Have So Few Women Leaders”:

Instead, the Facebook board is all men, all the time, composed of CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, prominent techie and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, investor Peter Thiel, Accel Partners’ Jim Breyer and Washington Post head Don Graham.

It is no better at three of the most prominent recent Web 2.0 start-ups, which one source attributes to the lack of woman VCs, who are often the first board members after major investment rounds.

At Zynga, the hot social gaming company in San Francisco, it continues, with an all-male board, despite a very heavily female audience for its casual social games.

That would be co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus, COO Owen Van Natta, investor Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins, investor Reid Hoffman and Brad Feld of the Foundry Group.

The same is true at woman-targeted–spas, spas and more spas–social buying site Groupon, which has an unusually large board for a start-up and made up of–as per usual–all men.

The list: Co-founder and CEO Andrew Mason, Accel Partners’ Kevin Efrusy, former AT&T President and COO John Walter, New Enterprise Associates’ Harry Weller and Peter Barris, former AOL exec Ted Leonsis, 37Signals co-founder Jason Fried and early investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.

And, much smaller, is Foursquare’s board, which is the trio of co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, co-founder Naveen Selvadurai and Union Square Ventures’ Albert Wenger.

New investors–Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures’ Bryce Roberts–have observer status and both are, needless to say, dudes.

There is no question it is tough to make sure there is a good balance of qualified women leaders to men in tech–it is an issue we wrestle with every single year for the program of speakers at our own All Things Digital conference, although we are most excellent on this issue on our Web site and conference staff.

But it can be done, especially at public tech companies. Google has two women on its board of nine directors; Yahoo has three of 10; even Oracle has two of a dozen.

But a grand total of zero at the leading companies of Web 2.0 is not just a coincidence.

It’s a shame.

Tomorrow, BoomTown will post a list of great women who would be superb directors for any of these companies, but until then, let’s not follow in Spanky’s steps:

Things have certainly quieted down in the swirl of mostly vapor plots about the future of Yahoo, although the pondering, machinating and such on the parts of a variety of players have most certainly continued.

And that includes the introduction of a new character into the drama: Former News Corp. President Peter Chernin.

Let’s be very clear–there is no active plan for Chernin to join Yahoo or its board, nor is he currently part of any possible takeover plan related to the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

But multiple sources from a variety of sides said that Chernin, a well-liked and deeply experienced media and entertainment exec, has been contacted by a number of private equity firms and other investors about his interest in becoming involved should any of the various and sundry scenarios around the Internet giant pan out.

And Chernin, many sources said, has expressed a definite interest in the situation, perhaps because he was deeply involved in a previous deal when running News Corp.

At the time, it involved combining the media giant’s Myspace social networking site with Yahoo and also Microsoft’s portal MSN and creating a new company, code-named “TrafficCo.”

“He is asking a lot of questions and is nosing around, but there is not a plan,” said one source. “Yahoo has always been an interesting opportunity to him.”

Indeed, especially since Chernin has had a longtime interest in being more involved in digital business after a long career in traditional media.

He currently has a Santa Monica, Calif.-based media company, called Chernin Entertainment, which has a lucrative first-look production film and television deal with News Corp.–as well as the Chernin Group, which “pursues strategic opportunities in media, technology, and entertainment.”

And, in recent weeks, Chernin (pictured here) has also unveiled a new media venture in Asia called CA Media, which will “focus on a broad range of opportunities in content creation (specifically, film and TV production), television networks, sports, education, advertising, and digital media.”

But so far, since he left News Corp. in early 2009, Chernin has done very little in the digital arena.

In contrast, at News Corp., he was a key exec behind its co-founding of the Hulu premium video site, for example, among other digital initiatives.

And when Microsoft was vying to acquire Yahoo several years ago, Chernin and News Corp. CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch were actively trying to forge some solution that involved the company.

One possibility floated by numerous sources was that Chernin could once again work with Microsoft on settling all the turmoil around Yahoo of late.

In a related matter, sources said he had been in very early talks with the company about doing a subscription original-content channel on its Xbox–a kind of digital-only HBO–aimed at young men. Those discussions have not resulted in any project.

And, in fact, Chernin was a guest speaker at a Microsoft board retreat just yesterday in the Seattle area, where the theme was “Three Screens.”

He reportedly addressed television, the other two screen being the computer and the mobile phone.

A tighter relationship between Chernin and Microsoft would be interesting and possibly helpful to both.

“Microsoft is very worried about making sure there is a stable Yahoo,” said a source close to the situation, who noted the software giant has been quietly eyeing the situation and considering options. “Involving a well-regarded executive like Chernin makes a lot of sense.”

That makes sense given the key online search and advertising partnership Microsoft and Yahoo are now in, which tightly ties their fates together.

Of course, much about the Yahoo situation and any scenario being thought of–from spinning off its Asian assets in China’s Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan, to taking it private, to replacing its management and board–is, as BoomTown has frequently noted, a lot of shadows and dust at this point.

But–as a longtime admirer of Chernin’s curiosity about the digital realm, refreshingly minus the requisite horror over its growth that is so characteristic of much of Hollywood–his interest is a welcome one into the debate over what Yahoo needs to do to reinvigorate itself going forward.

Asking his thoughts might be a good question at the Web 2.0 Summit conference, where Chernin is being interviewed later today on the topic of content.

With all the noisy swirl around Yahoo of late–from its executive turmoil to its flat growth to its dashed partnerships in Asia to its brash CEO–its board has been unusually quiet of late.

Comatose, some might say.

In fact, many do say exactly that, pointing to the trauma of their disastrous performance when they fended off a hostile takeover attempt by Microsoft (MSFT) for above $30 a share as the cause.

Since then, the stock price of Yahoo (YHOO) has been mired in the low teens.

That is, until yesterday, when even more rumors of new plots emerged in the media, with private equity firms, media companies, Web rivals, big shareholders, Wall Street and others all machinating about trying to grab all or some of the Internet giant.

Now, it will be interesting to see if its directors will shake themselves out of their typical comfort zone of inactivity to actually do their job.

Which, as former GE (GE) star exec Jack Welch–in a recent smackdown of a spate of controversial moves by the Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) board–said in a recent interview, is to “pick the CEO, help them shape strategy, make them feel good about themselves, and, if the CEO isn’t doing a good job, to ‘get them the hell out of there.’”

According to sources close to the situation, the Yahoo directors are in a quandary, even as they are on the receiving end of a flood of suggestions and demands from big investors, ranging from merging with AOL (AOL) to aligning with News Corp. (NWS) to selling off the company’s lucrative Asian assets to replacing CEO Carol Bartz.

You get the idea.

But that might not happen as quickly as some want. Sources said that while the eight-person board has some strong personalities on it, there is no one who has emerged as a powerful leader, aside from Bartz.

Yahoo has recently tried to attract two execs who might be able to go toe-to-toe with her–OpenTable (OPEN) CEO Jeff Jordan and Akamai (AKAM) President David Kenny–but was turned down by both.

Neither apparently wanted the headache of dealing with Yahoo’s struggles.

The same goes for some on Yahoo’s board.

Said one person who had spoken to a few board members recently: “Each of them tells me, ‘I’m only one person and I can’t act alone.’”

Indeed not, which is why you have a board. Stone soup, people!

In any case, it is high time to put the spotlight on the Yahoo directors, which I have done in the past in other crisis moments.

Here’s a rundown, with their photos from Yahoo’s shareholder Web site, along with some BoomTown analysis:

Carol Bartz, CEO:

We all know her, the tough-talking longtime Silicon Valley software exec who was brought in to clean up Dodge in the wake of the rocky tenure of former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang. She is under pressure here for not doing that well enough, of course, despite a very, very big compensation package.

Still, with an aggressive personality and a wimpish board, she might be able to stave off any challenges to her power.

Roy Bostock, Chairman:

The longtime airline board member and advertising exec has been at the top of the Yahoo board since 2008 and on it since 2003.

Which is why I called for his resignation after Yang and former Yahoo President Sue Decker gracefully stepped down, after their management was called into question.

Bostock was right there with them, making all those decisions, which turned out to be disastrous in hindsight. Still, he does not seem to be much for the honorably-falling-on-your-sword thing.

In fact, sources said he has been making the rounds of investors recently trying to gauge the mood. Memo to Roy: It’s bad.

Eric Hippeau

Now the CEO of the Huffington Post, the longtime Web investor and publisher has a lot of online experience and should be one of the leaders on the Yahoo board. Hippeau has certainly been a director long enough to be one–since 1996, as an early investor in the company.

He’s also known as a super-nice guy in Internet circles, which means he is no head-smacker. Too bad.

One idea floated to me by an investor: Yahoo could buy the upstart online media darling and install him as CEO. Pretty please, because the entrance of the fab stylings of Arianna Huffington into this mess would send me into the stratosphere of reporting nirvana.

Vyomesh Joshi

Also a very endearing dude, the top HP exec was one of those on the short list for CEO of the tech giant recently. He runs its gigantically profitable printing and imaging business.

He’s been a Yahoo director since 2005 and should be a key decision maker, since he is an experienced operator. He’s not been, unfortunately.

Arthur Kern

Also a lifer, also having been on the Yahoo board since 1996, the investor and radio exec has also worked in marketing at Digitas.

Among the board members, he seems to be the quietest of the bunch, so I am not sure what to say about him except that he has very white teeth.

Gary Wilson

Another investor–in private equity, he has been on the board of airline companies (what is with this plane stuff on the Yahoo board?), as well as a top financial exec at Disney (DIS) and Marriott (MAR).

Again, a nice résumé, and he should be a leader. He was definitely more involved in the Microsoft situation than others.

Since then? Meh.

Sue James

The accountant. Retired from Ernst & Young. Used to work for Bartz, as lead partner for audit work for Autodesk (ADSK). Joined the Yahoo board early this year.

Probably just figuring out that this whole thing might not be adding up.

Patti Hart

Also new, since June. Worked in the digital video business, and is now the CEO of a “global provider of electronic game equipment and systems products.”

Say what?

Okay, I will go with it, as I am liking that Bartz has brought on two women to the board, which has mostly been stacked full with men.

Brad Smith

The president and CEO of Intuit (INTU), the financial management software powerhouse, also joined in June. This guy should be able to shake the trees, right?

But he is probably still trying to learn everyone’s name. Brad, not to put too much pressure, but everyone is counting on you.

Jerry Yang

Last, but certainly not least, the man who is ultimately the power player here.

The Internet pioneer and industry legend checked out of Yahoo for a bit after he stepped down in early 2009–time to tee off!

But many sources said he has been back at Yahoo for a while–glad-handing advertisers, meeting with entrepreneurs, sussing out trends, piping up in strategy meetings and doing the behind-the-scenes thing that he does so well.

Reports vary on how much he likes Bartz–he expresses support for her to some, but seems to have soured on her to others.

Who knows with the endearingly prickly Yang, whom I have been covering for a dog’s age and who should return my emails once in a while, like in old times when I stalked him.

Dinner is optional, but I will pay this time (see video below of our last semi-enjoyable meal).

Still, here is what I know for sure: Yahoo is Yang’s creation and legacy, and he’s the one who has to make sure that it survives and thrives.

For all the uncertainty surrounding Yahoo once again, that much is true.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101014/meet-the-yahoo-board-something-old-something-new-but-will-they-do-something/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20101012/yahoo-ceos-over-pay-puts-spotlight-on-performance/ http://allthingsd.com/20101012/yahoo-ceos-over-pay-puts-spotlight-on-performance/#comments Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:12:59 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=35345

Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz has been under pressure of late, due to everything from executive turmoil to flat revenue to lack of vision to, perhaps most importantly, a flaccid stock price.

And, as of yesterday, you can add excessive pay to the pile.

That’s because Bartz just topped the list of 25 overpaid CEOs, which is done annually by proxy adviser Glass, Lewis & Co.

A dubious distinction, to say the least.

The San Francisco-based firm pointed to the $39 million Bartz garnered last year from Yahoo (YHOO), which–to be fair–includes both salary and options she has not yet sold.

Still, the huge sum also recently put her atop Fortune magazine’s list of highest-paid women.

Glass Lewis, of course, was using Yahoo’s top exec to make a point:

“Bartz represents a problem we find at many other firms with poor pay-for-performance grades: excessive compensation awarded to executives to encourage them to join or remain with a company.”

Indeed, this big number–however loaded with options based on some level of performance–is one that is sure to draw shareholder ire, due to the fact that the well-paid Bartz is simply not delivering what had been hoped for when she was brought on to shake up Yahoo.

It will be interesting to see if the board of Yahoo–hands down the weakest and most mistake-prone in Silicon Valley–will act in the same way the Microsoft (MSFT) board did with CEO Steve Ballmer.

Although a small thing, especially given how wealthy Ballmer is, the company pointed to the ill-fated venture that was the Kin phone and the slow response to the Apple (AAPL) iPad juggernaut, when giving him only half his maximum bonus recently.

This was despite record revenues at Microsoft, yet still a tiny but encouraging sign that the board has the courage to say: Not good enough.

Will Yahoo’s mousy board members manage to squeak out any such message to Bartz in the months ahead?

Having seen them in action for many years of stumbles now, which has been like watching someone throw himself continually down a flight of stairs, here’s my educated guess: No.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101012/yahoo-ceos-over-pay-puts-spotlight-on-performance/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20101004/no-massive-reorg-at-yahoo-but-more-exec-departures-plus-the-schneider-goodbye-letter/ http://allthingsd.com/20101004/no-massive-reorg-at-yahoo-but-more-exec-departures-plus-the-schneider-goodbye-letter/#comments Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:05:35 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34712

Sorry, folks, but–despite reports–Yahoo will not be unveiling another new organizational structure this week.

In actuality, the beleaguered Internet giant is just cleaning up from last week’s shake-up–in which it announced that a chunk of its top media and sales leadership was leaving–as well as settling in new hires made in recent months by its relatively new product head, Blake Irving.

In fact, those changes in Irving’s unit have resulted in the departure of two more execs. That would be former SVP of Media Products and Solutions Jeff Kinder and SVP for Cloud Computing Shelton Shugar, who are on their way out.

Kinder actually left his job many weeks ago and was offered the chance to find another within Yahoo (YHOO), although sources said he has now definitely decided to leave the company on his own.

CEO Carol Bartz held a meeting Friday with senior leadership to go over the situation and to assure management that changes to come would stabilize the company going forward.

To be sure, Yahoo needs some kind of reassurance and fast.

BoomTown broke the news last week that U.S. head Hilary Schneider was departing the company (see her goodbye memo below), along with U.S. Audience head David Ko and SVP of Media Jimmy Pitaro.

Pitaro has since landed a big job as co-president of the Internet unit of Disney (DIS).

The overall corporate turmoil has put more scrutiny on Bartz. For two years, she has been trying to turn around the company, with only a modicum of success.

While Bartz did strike a search and online advertising partnership with Microsoft (MSFT) to better battle Google (GOOG), she has not goosed flat revenue nor been able to boost Yahoo’s moribund stock.

Perhaps more critically, she has not stopped the steady exodus of talent, especially of more senior execs.

Departures in the last six months include U.S. advertising sales head Joanne Bradford, Integrated Consumer Experiences SVP Tapan Bhat, CTO Ari Balogh, as well as the heads of its social platform and communications product units.

But last week’s departure trifecta of the execs running Yahoo’s powerful and successful media unit drove the talent drain issue home for many investors and other observers.

While each departure case was different, of course, the leavings have lent a feeling of instability inside and outside the company.

That has happened more quietly over the several months of reshuffling by Irving (pictured here), who came to Yahoo from Microsoft, and which I have reported on here previously several times.

For example, in September, Irving hired Microsoft exec John Matheny to head the communications products and communities unit.

Previous to that, in July, Irving brought in another old colleague from the software giant–Bill Shaughnessy–as SVP of Product Management.

Thus, Irving–who is a little too busy traveling to a number of Yahoo product and technology units in Asia and India over the next weeks to announce yet another reorg–has pretty much already moved his part of the business around, although there are likely to be some more hires to come.

It is not unusual for a new senior exec to do this, of course, but Irving’s many moves reportedly sparked some tension between him and Schneider.

That might have been moot, since she had decided to leave some months ago, but was asked to stay on by Bartz.

To be sure, in recent months, many sources said that their relationship had become strained too as Yahoo ad sales continue to struggle, and they also disagreed on the company’s strategic direction.

Still, it should be noted that Schneider is staying on until a new exec is named to replace her.

Whatever the various machinations in the corporate suite at Yahoo, Bartz needs to find a way to convince Wall Street that she still has the ability to complete her much touted turnaround of the Silicon Valley pioneer to a new period of growth and innovation.

How quickly she is doing that will come into sharp relief in a few weeks when Yahoo reports its third-quarter earnings on October 19.

And while executive departures garner a lot of attention, that is the bottom line for Yahoo, the thing most important of all to watch.

Finally, given I love a good internal memo, here is, belatedly, the email that Schneider sent to her staff last week about her leaving:

Team,

I’m sure by now you’ve all had a chance to read Carol’s note, and know that I made the decision to move on to the next stage of my career. When I joined Yahoo! four years ago, I knew it would be an amazing and rich experience…and it has exceeded every expectation. Our consumers look to Yahoo! as they navigate their lives, our advertisers look to Yahoo! for leadership, and publisher looks to Yahoo! for our amazing scale and reach. Our team, however, is our secret weapon!

Meanwhile, the search for my successor is under way and I will continue to lead our team until we make the transition.

Additionally. David Ko, SVP of Audience and Mobile, and Jimmy Pitaro, VP of North America Media, have decided to leave Yahoo! David and Jimmy are amazing leaders and we will miss them. Yahoo!’s leadership positions in Sports, News, Entertainment, Finance and Mobile are their legacy that we have to proudly continue.

Raymond Stern will be the SVP of North America Audience and will be responsible for the Audience teams. Raymond has been an integral part of Americas leadership team as the SVP of Business Development and Partnerships. Before joining Yahoo! a year ago, he held a wide range of business leadership positions, including more than 10 years as a Partner the Boston Consulting Group where he ran the Technology and Media Practice on the west coast. He also held senior leadership roles at Intuit, including CMO.

Raymond will immediately start diving in to the Audience business, and David and Jimmy are committed to working with Raymond through the transition. Right now, Raymond will continue overseeing the business development and partnership teams while we think through the best structure for these teams moving forward.

I know that transitions can create swirl–but our customers, both consumer and marketers, are looking to us for continued leadership…and I know we can deliver this.

You are Yahoo!’s magic, and I thank you for your tremendous commitment, leadership, and support.

Hilary

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101004/no-massive-reorg-at-yahoo-but-more-exec-departures-plus-the-schneider-goodbye-letter/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20100930/could-aol-buy-yahoo-could-news-corp-takeover-2-0-with-a-little-help-from-the-chinas-alibaba/ http://allthingsd.com/20100930/could-aol-buy-yahoo-could-news-corp-takeover-2-0-with-a-little-help-from-the-chinas-alibaba/#comments Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:54:11 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34545

Today, as news of the departure of Yahoo’s U.S. head Hilary Schneider and two other top execs got around Wall Street, investors and dealmakers were actually thinking of things other than executive turmoil.

As in: Does the uncertainty, along with a naggingly lackluster stock price and weak growth, create pressure on its CEO Carol Bartz and its board to do something dramatic?

In addition, does the messy public situation even provide an opportunity to put Yahoo into play, despite its market cap of $19 billion?

These and many more are the scenarios being debated in boardrooms of big media and Internet companies today, as well as at private equity firms, investment banks and even in Asia.

That’s because many are focusing on Yahoo’s Asian investments. Yahoo (YHOO) itself owns almost 35 percent of Yahoo Japan and a 40 percent stake in China’s Alibaba Group, assets that now make up–along with cash on hand–most of the company’s valuation.

Alibaba and Yahoo have recently gotten into an ugly public tussle over the Chinese firm’s desire to buy back the shares now, with Bartz holding out for more appreciation.

Now, she might have to do a deal with Alibaba, according to one theory, because a sale of its stake would give Yahoo’s stock a significant boost.

One problem: Alibaba CEO Jack Ma has made it known to anyone who will listen that he loathes Bartz personally, after a series of awkward encounters. That said, he has a close relationship with former Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang, who is on both companies’ boards.

That puts Ma in an interesting position, according to another theory, because other U.S. companies with an interest in Yahoo might try to make a deal with him to do some kind of deal with Yahoo.

Most frequently mentioned by big investors in Yahoo: AOL (AOL) and its CEO Tim Armstrong.

Armstrong, said sources, has not shied away from the idea of Yahoo acquiring AOL and installing him as CEO with Bartz as chairman. AOL’s valuation is just $2.65 billion.

Although AOL has also been trying to turn itself around and is in a much less powerful position than Yahoo, Wall Street likes Armstrong’s story for AOL as a modern-day media and media distribution company.

“At least he has a narrative that is believable,” said one big investor in both companies. “Bartz has no vision.”

Another plus for Armstrong: His friendly and Don Draper-smooth demeanor, in contrast to Bartz’s tough-talking and now too-often curse-laden patter.

And while Bartz is losing execs, Armstrong has assembled an experienced staff. And he himself has deep online advertising sales experience, given his last job as head of U.S. sales at Google (GOOG).

Also likely to be interested: New Corp. The reason is that its own digital efforts, especially at the MySpace social networking site, have gone sideways.

And there’s history: News Corp. (NWS) tried to facilitate a merger of MySpace, MSN and Yahoo into a company codenamed “TrafficCo” at the time Microsoft was attempting a takeover of Yahoo.

It was supposed to be headed by former Microsoft exec and now Juniper (JNPR) CEO Kevin Johnson, another possible Yahoo CEO candidate.

That plot did not pan out and News Corp. has been trying mightily to revive MySpace ever since. It certainly would trade it into Yahoo for some stake.

Another hook: Its digital head Jon Miller, who used to be CEO of AOL, almost was CEO of Yahoo, during that same takeover fight. But a noncompete agreement with Time Warner (TWX) was enforced by CEO Jeff Bewkes at the time.

Both AOL and News Corp. could certainly make approaches to Ma or Yahoo Japan’s Masayoshi Son to agree to help them get back their Yahoo stakes.

Son was the one who made the move recently to switch out Yahoo search for Google in Japan.

And, by the way, Son was one of Yahoo’s earliest investors.

Confused? Well, it is certainly shaping up to be a lively Silicon Valley goat rodeo, as there are also all kinds of private equity companies with spreadsheets already figured if Yahoo shares decline enough.

And there are other ideas spinning on spins into Yahoo, such as Demand Media, which is prepping an IPO, and its perpetually enthusiastic CEO Richard Rosenblatt.

One unlikely player is Microsoft (MSFT). The once hostile suitor is now a partner to Yahoo in search and online advertising.

Of course, the last and biggest question is what happens between Bartz and the board. While they seem to have backed her this far, she has not performed as she has promised and now seems to have gotten publicly grumpy about all the pressure to do so.

Will the directors, who proved themselves pretty ineffectual in the past, continue to support her? Or will they find some self-protecting way to ease her out?

Some directors are definitely unhappy, sources said, but no one seems to be in charge or particularly influential.

Which could mean even more confusion as Yahoo moves unsteadily forward.

Until it all settles down, please enjoy this video of an actual goat rodeo:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100930/could-aol-buy-yahoo-could-news-corp-takeover-2-0-with-a-little-help-from-the-chinas-alibaba/feed/ 9 http://allthingsd.com/20100928/exclusive-yahoo-exec-churn-continues-with-media-head-pitaro-ready-to-bolt/ http://allthingsd.com/20100928/exclusive-yahoo-exec-churn-continues-with-media-head-pitaro-ready-to-bolt/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 17:00:33 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34318

Last week at a Goldman Sachs (GS) investment conference, voluble Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz tried to minimize the impact of the recent spate of significant executive departures at the Internet giant.

But, she noted: “There are a few more we’re going to lose.”

And Bartz is right–according to several sources with knowledge of the situation, Yahoo’s well-liked VP of Media, Jimmy Pitaro (pictured here), is expected to be leaving the company soon.

Rumors around Pitaro’s departure have been swirling inside and outside Yahoo, especially this week. Bartz and other execs are still trying hard to keep Pitaro, but sources said his departure would likely be to another company.

If he goes, it will certainly be a loss for Yahoo (YHOO). Pitaro is a longtime veteran and experienced digital-media exec, and he has run a number of its key media properties, such as Sports.

He now presides over all its other powerful media properties, such as News and Finance. Pitaro reports to David Ko, Yahoo’s U.S. Audience head.

Pitaro follows a number of key Yahoo execs out the door recently, either via changes in structure or because of increasing dissatisfaction with management and the company’s moribund stock price.

Adding Pitaro to the pile will only increase pressure on Bartz, as well as U.S. SVP Hilary Schneider, to show investors that the Silicon Valley icon has a clear and innovative plan amidst the executive turmoil.

Yahoo declined to comment.

Here is a recent video interview BoomTown did with Pitaro at Yahoo’s Santa Monica, Calif., offices, about a blog called The Upshot, an effort to delve deeper into the new push to determine content selections based on search:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100928/exclusive-yahoo-exec-churn-continues-with-media-head-pitaro-ready-to-bolt/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20100907/viral-video-facebook-live-versus-google-beat/ http://allthingsd.com/20100907/viral-video-facebook-live-versus-google-beat/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:15:03 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=33415

While the Silicon Valley digital giants are fighting on much bigger playing fields, BoomTown is enjoying the mini-battle brewing between Facebook Live and Google Beat.

What, pray tell, are those?

Well, Facebook Live launched about a month ago, and includes all kinds of insidery videos from the social networking giant.

Facebook Live notes on its Facebook page that it is an “official live video streaming channel, providing a deeper look into our features, partners & employees.”

That includes interviews by Facebook’s marketing exec Randi Zuckerberg, live event streaming and also a look-see at demos.

Google (GOOG) has been putting up a lot of videos on its official YouTube channel for a while now, such as executive talks, tips, product explainers, life-at-Google vignettes and even a Rubik’s Cubes Googley art wall competition.

Now, it seems to have upped the stakes with last week’s launch of Google Beat, which is–as a blog post described it–a video series that “highlights some of the hottest searches on Google in the U.S.”

This past week, searches centered on Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally and hurricane information, which seems like a good fit.

Personally, I like both entries from Facebook and Google and want even more.

What about a look inside Facebook Mark Zuckerberg’s sock drawer? Or perhaps a gander at exactly what Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin searched for over Labor Day?

I say, the more, the merrier–or, in this case, the geekier, the nerdier!

Although here is something to ponder: While Twitter is likely minutes away from broadcasting “Twit Wit,” would Apple (AAPL) ever do something like this?

(Answer: Never ever ever.)

Here are two recent Facebook Live posts–one an interview of the Places team and the other a tech talk on Facebook infrastructure.

They are followed by the first two Google Beat episodes, starring Anne Espiritu, as well as the ever-changing colors of Google’s signature exercise ball.

Enjoy:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100907/viral-video-facebook-live-versus-google-beat/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20100730/in-ipo-signaling-move-zynga-adds-fancy-cfo/ http://allthingsd.com/20100730/in-ipo-signaling-move-zynga-adds-fancy-cfo/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 21:00:11 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=31528

Zynga, the fast-growing social gaming site, said it had hired Allen & Co. investment banker David Wehner (pictured here) as its new CFO.

He replaces Mark Vranesh, who becomes Chief Accounting Officer, reporting to Wehner.

The move is yet another indication that the San Francisco-based start-up is prepping for an initial public offering, rounding out its executive team, which is headed by founder and CEO Mark Pincus.

Pincus and Zynga have been quite busy of late, landing hundreds of millions of dollars in venture funding, striking deals with Yahoo (YHOO), Google (GOOG) and international partners such as SoftBank, as the company seeks to expand its distribution from Facebook, the social networking platform where it first took off.

Zynga also recently signed a five-year agreement with Facebook.

Zynga said it made the hire because of its longstanding relationship with Wehner, who has been a managing director at the New York-based Allen & Co. for nine years.

One thing is most clear: Zynga is filling out its executive team to take the business to the next level.

Which is, of course, an IPO.

Here is Wehner’s official bio:

Dave Wehner is joining Zynga from Allen & Company LLC, an investment bank focused on media and technology, where he has worked since 2001. As a Managing Director at Allen, Dave led corporate finance teams responsible for capital raises and M&A transactions with a focus on the firm’s Silicon Valley clients. Dave was also involved extensively with Allen’s principal investing activity, and sponsored the firm’s investments in a number of technology companies including Pandora, Quantcast and StubHub. Prior to joining Allen & Company, Dave worked as the VP Corporate Development for an e-commerce start up and at the technology-focused investment banking firm Hambrecht & Quist (now part of JP Morgan), where he was involved in numerous M&A and financing transactions. Earlier in his career, Dave worked as a strategy consultant with the global consulting firm Monitor Company where he worked extensively throughout Asia.

Dave earned a BS in Chemistry from Georgetown University and an MS in Applied Physics from Stanford University where he was a National Science Foundation fellow.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100730/in-ipo-signaling-move-zynga-adds-fancy-cfo/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100507/the-scale-anticipation-fallacy/ http://allthingsd.com/20100507/the-scale-anticipation-fallacy/#comments Fri, 07 May 2010 21:55:10 +0000 Ben Horowitz http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=24848 The other day, I was talking to a couple friends of mine, one a VC and the other a CEO. During the meeting, we were discussing one of the executives at the CEO’s company. The executive in question performs exceptionally, but lacks experience managing at larger scale. My friend the VC innocently advised the CEO to carefully consider whether the executive would scale to meet the company’s needs in the future. I responded swiftly, aggressively, and loudly saying, “That’s a horrible idea and makes no sense at all.” Both of my friends startled at my outburst. Normally, I am disciplined enough to refrain from letting my feelings pass straight through my mouth without stopping at my brain for review. Why the outburst? Here is my answer.

As CEO, you must constantly evaluate all of the members of your team. However, evaluating people against the future needs of the company based on a theoretical view of how they will perform is counterproductive for the following reasons:

Managing at scale is a learned skill rather than a natural ability–Nobody comes out of the womb knowing how to manage a thousand people. Everybody learns at some point.

It’s nearly impossible to make the judgment in advance–How do you tell in advance if an executive can scale? Was it obvious that Bill Gates would learn how to scale when he was a Harvard dropout? How do you go about making that decision?

The act of judging people in advance will retard their development–If you make a judgment that someone is incapable of doing something such as running a larger organization, then will it make sense to teach those skills or even point out the anticipated deficiencies? Probably not. You’ve already decided that the person in question can’t do it.

Hiring scalable execs too early is a horrible mistake–There is no such thing as a great executive. There is only a great executive for a specific company at a specific point in time. Mark Zuckerberg is a phenomenal CEO for Facebook. He would not be a good CEO for HP (HPQ). Similarly, Mark Hurd does a terrific job at HP, but he would not be the right person to manage Facebook. If you judge your team in advance and have a high sense of urgency, you will bring in executives that can manage at high scale in advance of needing them. Unfortunately, you will probably ignore their ability to do the job for the next 12 months, which is the only relevant measure. As a result, you will swap out good executives for worse ones.

You still have to make the judgment at the actual point in time when you hit the higher level of scale–Even if you avoid the trap of hiring a scalable executive too early or retarding the new executive’s development, you still haven’t actually bought yourself anything by making the prejudgment. Regardless of what you decided at point-in-time A, you still have to evaluate the situation with far better data at point-in-time B.

It’s no way to live your life or run an organization–Deciding (with woefully incomplete data) that someone who works his or her butt off, does a terrific job, and loyally contributes to your mission won’t be with you three years from now takes you to a dark place. It’s a place of information hiding, dishonesty, and stilted communication. It’s a place where prejudice substitutes for judgment. It’s a place where judgment replaces teaching. It’s a place where teamwork becomes internal warfare. Don’t go there.

So, if you don’t prejudge people’s ability to scale, how do you make the judgment? You should evaluate your team at least once a quarter on all dimensions. Two keys can help you avoid the scale anticipation trap:

• Don’t separate scale from the rest of the evaluation–The relevant question isn’t whether an executive can scale; it’s whether the executive can do the job at the current scale. You should evaluate holistically and this will prevent you from separating scale, which often leads to a prediction of future performance.
• Make the judgment on a relative rather than an absolute scale–Asking yourself whether or not an executive is great can be extremely difficult to answer. A better question is: For this company at this exact point in time, does there exist an executive I can hire who will be better? If my biggest competitor hires that person, how will that impact our ability to win?

In summary, predicting whether or not an executive can scale corrupts your ability to manage, is unfair, and doesn’t work.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100507/the-scale-anticipation-fallacy/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20100316/aols-golden-parachutes-28-4-million-for-four-former-executives/ http://allthingsd.com/20100316/aols-golden-parachutes-28-4-million-for-four-former-executives/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:45:46 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=17443 Want to make money? Become a former AOL executive. The Web publisher paid out $28.4 million in cash and stock to four top executives it replaced last year.

The payouts are part of a broader reorg CEO Tim Armstrong has put into place since coming aboard from Google (GOOG) a year ago. And most of the eye-popping sums are really a reflection of employment contracts the executives signed with the company when it was run by Time Warner (TWX). Still, they’re big numbers:

• Former CEO Randy Falco: $11.6 million
• Former COO Ron Grant: $7 million
• Former COO Kim Partoll, who replaced Grant last June, but left in September: $6.2 million
• Former CFO Nisha Kumar: $3.6 million

Some of these payouts will keep going. Falco and Grant, for instance, will continue to be on the AOL payroll through the end of this year. Falco will get $1 million in salary, plus a $3.25 million cash bonus, while Grant will earn $750,000 and a $1.6 million bonus.

And as PaidContent notes, CTO Ted Cahall, who made $1.6 million last year, received a “retention payment” of $354,000 on Jan. 15. Ten days later, Armstrong announced that Cahall was being replaced, too.

To put the payouts in perspective: AOL (AOL) said it spent $190 million on restructuring charges last year as it began shedding a third of its workforce.

[Image credit: DVIDSHUB]

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