Lee Brown, who heads up Yahoo’s advertising efforts in its key New York region, is taking a post at Groupon as an SVP, focused on national accounts such as Gap and others that the start-up has recently begun targeting.

Groupon, which has been around only since 2008, has built a giant business in a short time by linking customers with mostly local merchants via daily discounted deals.

According to sources, it has a $2 billion revenue run rate this year, more than half of which will be returned to retailers.

Groupon’s growth has attracted a lot of attention of late, including a $6 billion acquisition bid by Google.

Those deal talks ended, although Google execs have said this week that local sales are a critical part of its future.

Yahoo has lost a lot of sales talent over the last year, including most recently Keith Nilsson, who ran global sales initiatives.

Interestingly, a former top Yahoo commerce exec, Rob Solomon, is Groupon’s president.

Tonight, I got a call that another top Yahoo–Global Initiatives Group SVP Keith Nilsson (pictured here)–was also leaving the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

Nilsson, a 12-year Yahoo veteran, had run emerging markets for the company, until he was appointed in January to his new job.

Reporting directly to CEO Carol Bartz, Nilsson was focused on supporting global relationships and alliances, as well as revenue partnerships.

It’s not clear where Nilsson is going, but he might be headed to a start-up opportunity.

It’s another big blow to Yahoo, where employee morale is worsening after a series of top exec departures and the prospect of a round of layoffs in less than two weeks.

The management capabilities of Bartz are likely to get further scrutiny by Wall Street investors if this talent drain continues.

But that kind of rigorous oversight is unlikely to come from Yahoo’s ineffectual board, which–in fact–is now having a regularly scheduled meeting at Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ.

Here is a question they might ask Bartz: Why is Yahoo losing so many of its execs and how are you going to stop it?

News was actually committed during Yahoo’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call today when CEO Carol Bartz noted that the company would disable its irksome “hover interaction” on the homepage and that the Internet giant has restructured its international business.

Yahoo (YHOO) reported results earlier today that slightly exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter, but it was no blowout.

Said a Yahoo spokeswoman in an email to BoomTown about dumping the hover:

“We are in the process of making a change to the hover interaction and it should be live in all markets that have the new homepage by late tonight. To give people more control over their experience, we are adding the ability to select from either a ‘hover’ or ‘click’ interaction for activating previews of apps in the My Favorites section. The default setting will be a click interaction, but people can also use a hover interaction by selecting that option as their default preference. You should see this change on your own homepage very soon.”

The hover feature, while initially touted as giving users easy access to widgets on the homepage, has been widely decried by advertisers because it essentially covers other ads at the top of the page, which are Yahoo’s most lucrative inventory.

Also, simply put, the hover is super-annoying.

Back in July when Yahoo rolled out the new homepage design, though, the company was high on the hover. (You can see it in action below; click on the image to make it larger.)

This was the most striking change in the homepage overhaul, in fact, featuring a prominent My Favorites area on the left side with dozens of specially designed applications–email, stocks and third-party sites like Facebook, among others–that users could customize and view through quick hovering glimpses.

Advertising popped up when hovering over the apps, which was Yahoo’s solution to the alternative of sending users away from the site when they clicked the apps.

In addition, Bartz said in the call that Yahoo’s international operations would be rejiggered, after an ultimately fruitless search for a new head of the unit. Bartz said she had not been able to find a qualified exec to run international, so she decided to change the set-up.

International ops will be reduced from four regions to three–Americas; Europe, Middle East, Africa; and Asia Pacific–with Emerging Markets tucked into them.

They will report to Bartz directly–with current Emerging Markets head Keith Nilsson taking the job of Global Initiatives SVP, also reporting to her.

Wrote another Yahoo spokeswoman:

“Yahoo! has reorganized our regions to strengthen focus on emerging countries, and to align company-wide resources and expertise against the company’s vision to be the center of people’s online lives. Effective April 1, the structure will be made up of three regions: The Americas, EMEA and APAC. Our Emerging Markets region, formerly separate, will be absorbed into these new regions to better support our work in countries with large and growing Internet populations. Yahoo! is making a further commitment to its global customers with the creation of a Global Initiatives SVP, reporting directly to Carol Bartz, CEO, focused on supporting global relationships and alliances.”

Rose Tsou heads up APAC, Rich Riley runs EMEA and Hilary Schneider helms the Americas.

This morning, Yahoo said it is acquiring Maktoob.com, an Arabic online portal that boasts some 16 million users. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, but paidContent values it at between $75 million and $80 million.

“Access to information and communications tools can positively impact people’s lives in many ways,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a statement, “and with the acquisition of Maktoob.com and our investment in the region, the Arab world will soon get a Yahoo experience in Arabic with relevant local language content, programming and services.”

For Yahoo (YHOO), which is working to expand its international footprint, the move is an important one. While there are more than 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide, less than one percent of online content is in Arabic. The market is still in its early stages and it is already underserved. In other words, it represents a tremendous opportunity for local versions of Yahoo Search, Mail, Messenger and other properties.

“This deal is part of Yahoo!’s broader strategy to grow our international business, particularly in emerging markets,” Keith Nilsson, Yahoo’s Senior Vice President of Emerging Markets, said in a blog post. “In many countries, vast populations–and advertisers–are just starting to come online. The potential is tremendous. Yahoo! has a large and growing audience in these markets today, and our acquisition of Maktoob represents the kind of investment we’re making to cater to the needs of these promising regions.”

This morning, Yahoo said it is acquiring Maktoob.com, an Arabic online portal that boasts some 16 million users. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, but paidContent values it at between $75 million and $80 million.

“Access to information and communications tools can positively impact people’s lives in many ways,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said in a statement, “and with the acquisition of Maktoob.com and our investment in the region, the Arab world will soon get a Yahoo experience in Arabic with relevant local language content, programming and services.”

For Yahoo (YHOO), which is working to expand its international footprint, the move is an important one. While there are more than 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide, less than one percent of online content is in Arabic. The market is still in its early stages and it is already underserved. In other words, it represents a tremendous opportunity for local versions of Yahoo Search, Mail, Messenger and other properties.

“This deal is part of Yahoo!’s broader strategy to grow our international business, particularly in emerging markets,” Keith Nilsson, Yahoo’s Senior Vice President of Emerging Markets, said in a blog post. “In many countries, vast populations–and advertisers–are just starting to come online. The potential is tremendous. Yahoo! has a large and growing audience in these markets today, and our acquisition of Maktoob represents the kind of investment we’re making to cater to the needs of these promising regions.”

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, several sources said the company has come close to settling on a London-based media exec, who will move to and operate out of its Sunnyvale, Calif., HQ in Silicon Valley.

But it is unclear if or when a final appointment will be made.

That exec could be a lot of people, 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.

The many chatted up include: Former Bebo head Joanna Shields (nope, she has a noncompete from AOL); former Joost CEO Mike Volpi (nope, he just landed as a VC at Index Ventures), Microsoft (MSFT) consumer and online man in Britain Ashley Highfield (hmm, would he move so quickly after jumping from Project Kangaroo and the BBC?) and Gavin Patterson, head of the BT Retail unit.

But Yahoo could also opt for a more traditional media exec, said some sources.

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.”

Still, that key job remains unfilled, in an arena Yahoo has dropped the ball in recently, even as more nimble competitors like Google (GOOG) and Facebook thrive.

In the Yahoo (YHOO) management chart posted below, Bartz has filled the CFO role with Tim Morse and the customer advocacy slot with Jeff Russakow.

Without an international head, the three regional heads worldwide–Rose Tsou (Asia), Rich Riley (Europe) and Keith Nilsson (Emerging Markets)–have continued to report to Bartz. The U.S. region–Yahoo’s most significant market–is headed by Hilary Schneider.

Here is the Yahoo top management org chart, released back in February (click on it to make it larger):

Goodness gracious, make it stop!

You must know by now how much BoomTown loves internal Yahoo (YHOO) memos. But this is getting ridiculous.

It’s been like a flash flood after a long drought at Sunnyvale HQ today, as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz turns on the fire hose of a whole lot of communicating.

A lot. A real lot.

“I know you guys have reorg fatigue,” wrote Bartz, in the latest email to employees about the management reorganization finally announced this morning.

Also memo fatigue at All Things Digital HQ, if you can believe it.

Okay, I give, Carol! Well, for now, until another juicy internal memo you aren’t handing out freely lands in my inbox, for example, such as one about a search deal with Microsoft (MSFT). I’d like one of those to go, please!

But, in a gesture of a leak-free peace (can the drop-kick bounty be suspended for just today?), I am posting this last memo about the management reorganization from Carol “Chatterbox” Bartz.

(Although, I wish she would stop insulting the press, as she does below again. We are just doing our job–and very accurately, as it turned out–yet the jibes continue. Which is odd, frankly, given that Bartz has had mostly glowing coverage in the media her entire career.)

But Bartz did seem to leave a little mystery in the email still, as if even more rearranging were to come.

Writes Bartz (my bolding):

“As soon as decisions were made, I wanted you to know about them–even if that means we don’t have all the details nailed down yet”.

Wait, are the deets all nailed by Bartz’s productive hammer or aren’t they?

At least, thankfully, the note is capitalized properly, unlike the quaint no-caps stylings of former CEO Jerry Yang.

In any case, if you just can’t get enough, here is Bartz’s reorg blog from this morning and her new management structure memo too.

And here is her entire email on the reorg to employees:

From: Carol Bartz
Reply-To: Carol Bartz
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:02:49 -0800
To: “all-worldwide@yahoo-inc.com”
Subject: Our New Organization

Yahoos,

As I’ve gotten to know Yahoo! over the past several weeks, I’ve developed a point of view on how our organization should be structured to set us up for success.

Our goal is simple: to consistently deliver awesome consumer and advertiser experiences, everywhere in the world we do business. Delivering great customer experiences is everyone’s job at Yahoo!–and each part of our organization will have a clear role in making that happen every day.

The timing of this announcement is important. As soon as decisions were made, I wanted you to know about them–even if that means we don’t have all the details nailed down yet. Yes, there’s been a lot of speculation in the media over the past few days…that’s been a little frustrating, but I’m not willing to speak publicly about decisions before they’re final. Today, they are–so I’ll lay out our new organizational structure for you now.

I know you guys have reorg fatigue. Hang in there–our intention is to leave this structure in place for two to four years. We’ll continue to make adjustments as needed, but we expect this core structure to stay put.

The structure outlined below will enable us to make big improvements in our product quality and operational efficiency. Part of that is simplicity–I’m frankly amazed at how complicated some things are here! We’ll have much clearer decision making and accountability. Product and regional teams will share responsibility for revenue targets and expense management, but we’ll have one P&L, for which I’m accountable.

We will also be in a better position to really listen to and understand our customers–both consumers and advertisers. I think we’ve gotten into the habit of focusing internally too much and we sometimes forget who we’re here to serve. You’ll notice that our management structure puts a renewed focus on the customer, with stronger feedback loops across the company…and they all come through me.

Also, as you know, no organizational structure is a substitute for collaboration, communication and trust. We’ll all need to evolve our behavior a bit–as teams and as individuals – to make this structure work the way it’s designed.

So here’s the overview, with the roles that will report directly to me. As you’ll see, some of our leaders are still to be determined. I know you’ll
want more detail than what’s below–you can learn more on Backyard: http://backyard.yahoo.com/ourorg .

Products: We’ve combined Tech and Product groups under one roof, led by Ari Balogh as EVP Products & CTO. Ari’s charter is to deliver global products that enable extraordinary consumer and advertiser experiences. Ari’s direct reports now include one leader for each product group–we’ve taken care of the “two in a box” problem.

One important note: The Connected Life team has been integrated into various parts of the new organization. Our mobile strategy remains a key part of Yahoo!’s focus going forward and all of our product groups will own mobile innovations. After leading Connected Life for four years, Marco Boerries has resigned from the company to spend more time with his family in Europe. We thank Marco for his important contributions at Yahoo!.

Regions: There are now two: North America and International. As I’ve said before, international growth is critical for Yahoo!, which has become too reliant on its U.S. business over the years.

The regions deliver Yahoo!’s products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. They will partner closely with the newly formed Regional Solutions & Products group in Ari’s organization to help drive a significant shift in how Yahoo! develops products for different geographies. The goal is to have global platforms on which regional product offerings are based.

The North American region–comprised of the U.S. and Canada–is led by Hilary Schneider. The leader of our International region, to be hired soon, will be responsible for a cohesive Yahoo! global strategy and seizing our international growth opportunities. Until we determine who’ll lead the International region, Rose Tsou (Asia), Rich Riley (Europe) and Keith Nilsson (Emerging Markets) will continue to report to me.

Marketing: Elisa Steele will be joining Yahoo! as our Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), effective March 23. Elisa joins us from NetApp where she was SVP, Corporate Marketing. Previous to NetApp, she held executive positions in marketing at Sun Microsystems. Elisa will oversee our global marketing strategy and provide direction for our marketing function. She’ll bring together the various Yahoo! marketing teams that have been spread across the company. Reporting into Elisa will be Brand Marketing, Audience Marketing, Corporate Communications, Insights, Policy & Privacy, Community Affairs and related central teams. I’m delighted to have Elisa joining the team.

Customer Advocacy: As I said, we can do much better in hearing the voice of the customer across Yahoo!, and incorporating what we hear into all of our work day-to-day. We have opened a search for a leader, who will oversee Customer Care and Ad Operations globally with the goal of improving how we support Yahoo!’s users and advertisers. In the interim, these teams will continue to report to Hilary.

Service Engineering & Operations: This new team is responsible for delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. No matter how cool our products are, the customer’s experience won’t be great unless our applications consistently deliver. Note that we’re bringing Service Engineering together as one group because these engineers bring expertise that is best applied horizontally. Leading this organization is David Dibble, who joined Yahoo! in December. David’s team also will be accountable for delivering more effective corporate IT systems.

Corporate Functions: Blake Jorgensen will be leaving Yahoo! and I am searching for a new CFO. Blake will remain through a transition with his successor, and I want to thank Blake for all of his great contributions to Yahoo! over the past two years. Mike Callahan will continue to lead our Legal team, and David Windley leads our Human Resources function. Joel Jones joins the team as my Chief of Staff.

So that’s the high-level view. These changes are effective immediately, but we’ve got more work to do in filling out the structure of each group. In the short term, this transition will be challenging for many of our people. My executive staff will be working with their organizations as quickly as possible to create further clarity. For example, we’ll need to recast budgets and adjust work areas so we have the right people working side-by-side.

I want to thank all of you who’ve shared your ideas and views with me since I arrived. Several leaders across Yahoo! came together to design this new structure–I’ve been very impressed with their dedication to the right outcomes, particularly how they’ve embraced the need to eliminate the silos that have been a drag on this organization for so long.

I think this organizational structure has the potential to solve many of the issues you’ve helped me better understand. Of course, new issues will emerge. But I know we’ll be aligned and nimble in tackling them together.

This is a tremendous, proud company with a powerful brand, great products and a bright future. Now’s the time to get more focused than ever on delighting our users and advertisers. Let’s show them how great Yahoo! can be.

Carol

The only issue that arose was over the appointment of Ash Patel to head the new Global Products group. His appointment was greeted with internal dissent, but Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was said to have insisted that Patel remain on as planned.

Last week, I outlined the sweeping internal changes at Yahoo (YHOO), which will again dramatically change the structure of management.

As we wrote, the new Global Products group will be headed by Patel (pictured here), who is currently EVP of Yahoo’s Platforms and Infrastructure division.

Much of the Network division, which until recently was under the leadership of the now departed Jeff Weiner, will move under Patel, including search, mail, instant messenger, front page, platforms and social networking.

All these products are considered “global” properties and products, including divisions run by communications and communities SVP Brad Garlinghouse, former Search SVP Vish Makhijani and Front Door head Tapan Bhat.

While Makhijnai is leaving, Bhat is staying so far and Garlinghouse–despite previous reports of his imminent departure–will likely stay on through the summer.

Sources said the prospect of working for Patel is not a welcome one for some Yahoo execs in the old Network division.

Patel has been at Yahoo since 1996, and some do not think his operational style is dynamic enough and claim his division has had problems shipping products.

In the new organization, Global Partner Solutions EVP Hilary Schneider (pictured here) will get purview over the entire U.S. region.

Schneider will continue to oversee all ad sales and add on the Yahoo Media Group under Scott Moore, who was Weiner’s other direct report.

That shift will bring together Yahoo’s vast content properties, like Yahoo Finance, with ad sales and align them more closely.

The rest of the world will be split up between three other regions: Europe, headed by Toby Coppel; Asia, run by Rose Tsou; and emerging markets, headed by Keith Nilsson.

Patel, Schneider and the others all report to Yahoo President Sue Decker.

The reorg was largely run by Decker (pictured here) and top HR execs. Yang was involved but not very visible in the process to top managers.

And all of this reorg might be moot anyway.

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is still pursuing his proxy fight to remove Yahoo’s board and management, which could come to a head at Yahoo’s annual meeting on Aug. 1.

And investors are pressing Microsoft (MSFT) to make another proposal to run Yahoo’s search ad and search businesses, which could include the software giant buying a significant stake in Yahoo.

While some think Yang will soon hand over the CEO reins to Decker, increasing numbers of insiders and outside investors are pushing for new management at the top, as Yahoo’s shares decline and more and more talent takes flight from the company.

“A fish stinks from the head,” joked one employee. “This reorg is change, but what we might need goes higher than this.”