News Byte
Tricia Duryee in Social on October 20, 2012 at 7:26 pm PT
Joanna Shields, Facebook’s VP and managing director of the social network’s operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa, has left the company to become CEO of Tech City Investment Organisation, a high-tech economic development group in London, the Telegraph reports. Prior to joining Facebook in 2010, as CEO of Bebo Shields assisted its sale to AOL. “Joanna has been a tremendous contributor to our EMEA organization and her leadership and passion will be missed,” a Facebook spokesperson told AllThingsD.
Liz Gannes in Social on December 7, 2011 at 10:15 am PT
Facebook will “imminently” launch a plugin for publishers and public figures to ask their readers to subscribe on Facebook directly from their own Web sites.
Kara Swisher in News on April 7, 2010 at 5:20 am PT
Almost from the minute former AOL head Randy Falco handed over a giant bag of cash to Joanna Shields, the awfully clever chief money charmer of once darling social networking site Bebo, it was clear it was not going to end well.
Essentially, AOL–then a unit of Time Warner–had forked over $850 million to corner the market on teen girls in the United Kingdom.
Of course, all those girls are now using Facebook.
Peter Kafka in Media on April 1, 2010 at 2:06 am PT
Facebook is beefing up its European sales team with a big name in social networking circles: It is adding former Bebo CEO Joanna Shields, who will runs sales and business development in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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.
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.”
Peter Kafka in Media on August 27, 2009 at 5:47 am PT
Newish AOL CEO Tim Armstrong hasn’t gone on a massive firing binge. But he’s still shaking up the ranks at the Time Warner unit. Today, for instance, he is installing a new chief financial officer: Artie Minson, the deputy CFO at sister company Time Warner Cable. Minson replaces Nisha Kumar, who held the spot for two years.
Kara Swisher in News on August 17, 2009 at 11:24 am PT
Yahoo is closer to naming a new international head, according to sources, the last big slot left in the top management structure of CEO Carol Bartz.
While BoomTown is endeavoring to get the name of this international man of mystery, the suspect list is long, since Yahoo’s headhunter for the job–Heidrick & Struggles–has pretty much talked to the gamut of international Web muckety-mucks since the search started six months ago.
In a memo to Yahoo staff after her reorganization in February, Bartz said that “international growth is critical for Yahoo!, which has become too reliant on its U.S. business over the years.”
Kara Swisher in News on July 1, 2009 at 6:28 am PT
Back in April, Tim Armstrong sent a memo to the long-battered troops of AOL about a 100-day vision quest the new CEO and chairman was going on to find out “how to bring back the magic of AOL.”
It is now Day 86, and Armstrong is closing in on the end of a Where’s-Waldo commitment that he made then to visit all of the far-flung offices of the Time Warner online unit globally to find out what’s what and what he should do to turn AOL around.
BoomTown is eager to see what Armstrong has found out on his trip and what path it will ultimately put AOL on.
Kara Swisher in News on May 28, 2009 at 5:23 am PT
While there were reports that the Time Warner board was meeting today to approve the spin-off of its AOL online unit, it actually gave the move an “enthusiastic endorsement” last night, according to sources.
Time Warner just put out the press release about the move that would make AOL an “independent, publicly traded company.”
But, several sources with knowledge of the situation said AOL CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong is set to make massive changes to the structure of AOL, sweeping aside its current set-up almost completely.
That includes keeping the access business, which many thought would be sold off and putting many of the companies it has recently acquired–including its pricey Bebo social networking site–in a separate ventures unit, which will try to attract outside investment.