Marco Boerries

Exclusive: Yahoo Mobile VP Michael Shim Headed to Groupon

Ina Fried in Mobile on January 28, 2011 at 9:29 am PT

In the latest executive departure to hit Yahoo, mobile business development head Michael Shim is leaving the company to join Groupon, Mobilized has learned.

Exclusive: Yahoo's David Ko to Head Mobile at Online Gaming Powerhouse Zynga

Kara Swisher in News on October 4, 2010 at 9:11 am PT

David Ko, who just announced he was leaving Yahoo as head of its powerful U.S. Audience unit, is taking a job heading mobile efforts at hot social gaming start-up Zynga, according to sources. The move comes only a day after Jimmy Pitaro, who worked for Ko as head of Media at the Internet giant, landed at Disney as the new co-president of its Internet division. For Zynga, mobile is becoming a critical new platform for global growth, as consumers worldwide use a variety of increasingly functional mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers.

Yahoo Mobile Head David Ko Takes Over Audience Job Too (But Mobile Product Development Moves Under Balogh)

Kara Swisher in News on November 30, 2009 at 12:13 am PT

David Ko, head of Yahoo’s mobile division, has added the Internet giant’s vast media properties in the U.S. to his portfolio, according to several sources. With purview over programming and more for the main Yahoo media properties, such as News and Finance, he will now control a vast swath of its consumer-facing products. But, in a related move, product development for mobile has moved from under Ko to CTO and EVP of Products Ari Balogh.

One Last Yahoo Reorg Missive: Bartz Tells Employees What She Already Said. Again.

Kara Swisher in News on February 26, 2009 at 4:00 pm PT

Goodness gracious, make it stop! You must know by now how much BoomTown loves internal Yahoo 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 firehose of a whole lot of communicating. “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.

More on Yahoo Reorg in Process: Ari and Hilary Rule, but Who Is Joel Jones?

Kara Swisher in News on February 25, 2009 at 2:28 pm PT

“It’s being changed every minute,” joked one Yahoo source about the reorg now in process at Yahoo, which is being shepherded by new CEO Carol Bartz. Actually, it’s kind of true, as execs at the troubled Web company are being moved around the board like chess pieces, while others players are added. According to numerous sources, mostly in Yahoo’s Sunnyvale, Calif. HQ, things are still in flux and not completely settled as yet. But one thing is clear: Layers are being collapsed quickly, as fewer people are in charge of more, with all roads leading to Bartz.

Connected Life Head Marco Boerries to Leave Yahoo

Kara Swisher in News on February 25, 2009 at 2:27 am PT

Yahoo’s top mobile exec, Marco Boerries, is departing Yahoo, according to an internal email obtained by BoomTown that he sent to some staffers on Sunday. I have also since confirmed Boerries’s departure with company insiders familiar with the situation. In a post on Monday on a restructuring at Yahoo that new CEO Carol Bartz is likely to unveil to the company this week–sources tell me it is now set to be announced internally tomorrow–I noted that Boerries was one of the more likely high-level execs to go. “With a very heavy heart I have to tell you, that I will be leaving Yahoo!,” Boerries wrote, attributing his departure in an email titled “Personal Update,” to issues related to his family.

The Yahoo Management Structure: Who Is In and Who Is Out?

Kara Swisher in News on February 23, 2009 at 7:30 am PT

On Friday, BoomTown first reported that new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is likely to be announcing a sweeping new management structure soon, which can only mean the possibility that some existing top execs are likely to be broomed out, even as some new ones are ushered in. “This is going to be a full-scale peanut butter recall,” joked one exec, referring to the infamous “Peanut Butter Manifesto,” which was sent around the company several years ago by former exec Brad Garlinghouse. It laid bare the problems at Yahoo, most especially a decided lack of decision-making and lugubrious levels of managers. Here is the sticky skinny.

Jerry Yang and Sue Decker Talk About Yahoo's Connected TV at CES

Kara Swisher in News on January 9, 2009 at 12:04 pm PT

Usually, BoomTown plays the stalker of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. But, with an interesting product to show off, this time he invited me and also Walt Mossberg to take an on-the-floor look-see at the company’s new “Connected TV” effort yesterday. Wading into what has been a longtime dead-end for many tech companies–bringing the Internet to the television–Yahoo has struck a deal with South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung and other major television makers to put its software in televisions to link them to the Internet.

Yahoo Execs "Open" Up to BoomTown Video in a Blabfest!

Kara Swisher in News on September 12, 2008 at 11:35 am PT

Yesterday, Yahoo trotted out a range of top execs who were unusually loquacious at its “open house,” where the company made a valiant effort to explain an aggressive strategy to open up its platform and products. So here are video interviews I did with a range of Yahoo’s top execs, including Audience Product Division EVP Ash Patel, Yahoo Media Group head Scott Moore, social media guru Marc Davis, Yahoo! Mail kingpin Scott Dietzen,, Connected Life EVP Marco Boerries and PR minion Brad Williams.

Liveblogging From Yahoo’s "Open House": Open Ads, Open Mobile, Open Open!

Kara Swisher in News on September 11, 2008 at 11:11 am PT

BoomTown is thinking of starting a drinking game wherein the group gathered at Yahoo’s “Open House” media event this morning, takes a shot of Cuervo every time an exec says “open.” Except, everyone would be drunker than drunk if that was the case by now, as Yahoo lays out its strategies to open its platform and all its products to the whole wide world. That would be developers, publishers, advertisers, content creators and my mother. OK, not her, since she cannot turn on a computer. But definitely everyone else.