industry moves feature

AOL’s Google Reunion Grows Yet Again: Former YouTube Ad Guy Shashi Seth Joins Up

Peter Kafka in Media on September 29, 2009 at 9:29 am PT

Of course, Time Warner’s AOL has hired yet another Google veteran. That’s what the company does under the Tim Armstrong regime. Today’s example: Shashi Seth, the one-time “monetization” boss at YouTube, who was most recently running sales at Cooliris. His new job: Senior vice president of global advertising products, reporting to Armstrong’s lieutenant (and Google vet, natch) Jeff Levick.

Vevo, Universal Music’s Hulu for Video, Gets a Salesman

Peter Kafka in Media on September 23, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

Vevo, the music industry’s attempt to create a Hulu-like hub for its videos, is going to attract a lot of eyeballs when it launches later this year. Here’s the guy who’s supposed to attract advertisers: David Kohl, a former Nokia executive who starts work today as the site’s sales boss.

AOL: More Org Chart Shuffles Coming; So Are Ad Dollars. But Mum on Microsoft.

Peter Kafka in Media on September 21, 2009 at 8:15 am PT

CEO Tim Armstrong says he’s still overhauling the Internet company in advance of its spinoff from Time Warner, but he has hopeful noises to make about ad sales. He has nothing, however, to say about chats with Microsoft.

Top Microsoft Infrastructure Exec Chrapaty Heads to Cisco

Kara Swisher in News on September 20, 2009 at 10:39 pm PT

One of Microsoft’s top execs, Debra Chrapaty, who heads its infrastructure business, is leaving the software giant to take a top job at Cisco, sources said. Chrapaty–whose title is corporate VP of Global Foundation Services–is also one of increasingly few top women tech execs at Microsoft, where she has worked for seven years. Chrapaty will now shift to products at Cisco, running the collaboration software group, according to sources.

Yahoo Corporate Partnership SVP Schinella Departing

Kara Swisher in News on September 20, 2009 at 8:51 pm PT

Another high-ranking Yahoo exec is leaving–this time, Jim Schinella, the company’s SVP for corporate partnerships. Schinella announced the move internally last week, telling staff he would stay on until the end of the year. Located in New York, he has been focused on strategic deals with big Yahoo partners.

Former Bebo CEO and AOL Top Exec Shields and Shine's Murdoch to Form Interactive Content Start-Up

Kara Swisher in News on September 16, 2009 at 3:53 pm PT

Former Bebo CEO Joanna Shields and Shine Group Chairman and CEO Elisabeth Murdoch have formed a content start-up to produce across media platforms, both online and offline, with a focus on social engagement, according to sources. The new venture, which does not have a name, is being financially backed by both Shine and Shields. Based in London, it will invest, develop and partner to create a variety of content offerings that also incorporate interactive and social networking elements.

Another AOL Org Chart Shuffle: COO Partoll, Search Boss Kannapell Out

Peter Kafka in Media on September 15, 2009 at 6:46 pm PT

This isn’t the long-rumored round of mass layoffs, but AOL boss Tim Armstrong did let go of two executives today: COO Kim Partoll is out, as is John Kannapell, SVP of search and local media.

BusinessWeek’s Pitch to Investors: Buy Us, Then Fire Us

Peter Kafka in Media on September 15, 2009 at 9:10 am PT

How do you sell a business magazine that lost $43 million last year? Convince buyers that they could fire 20 percent of the staff without missing a beat. That’s part of the pitch Evercore Partners has been making to investors on behalf of McGraw-Hill, which wants to dump BusinessWeek. Look out, copy editors!

Former Yahoo Tech Star Eric Boyd to Microsoft (via Mochi Media)

Kara Swisher in News on September 8, 2009 at 12:44 pm PT

Eric Boyd (pictured here), a high-profile techie from Yahoo who left the company for a start-up last year, is now headed to Microsoft to work for its digital group, now run by another ex-Yahoo, Qi Lu. UPDATE: Microsoft confirmed the hiring, although declined to provide further details. Boyd–who is well-known for his card-counting team exploits while at MIT (which was later made into a movie)–had been VP of platform engineering at Yahoo and worked on a variety of projects there. With the addition of Boyd, sources said, Microsoft has acquired a huge swath of the top tech talent of Yahoo, many of whom came to the software giant because of Lu and to also escape the turmoil at Yahoo.

Digital Management Musical Chairs: The Tooth-Free Edition

Kara Swisher in News on September 8, 2009 at 6:30 am PT

Longtime Yahoo exec Brad Garlinghouse’s appointment to a new job at AOL today is yet another sign of an interesting trend for those keeping score of the comings and goings of top Internet execs. As anyone who watches the digital space knows by now, this kind of management musical chairs is common and never-ending, although it seems more frantic than ever of late. In fact, borrowing a quote by IAC/InterActiveCorp chairman and CEO Barry Diller from an onstage interview I did with him at the sixth D: All Things Digital conference, and switching out Hollywood for Silicon Valley: “[It] is a community that’s so inbred, it’s a wonder the children have any teeth.”