AllThingsD » Ross Levinsohn

Ready to Rumble or Make Nice? Activist Shareholder Daniel Loeb Could Strike Sooner Than Yahoo Thinks.

Kara Swisher — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:14:38 +0000

For someone who is still mulling things over about what to do about his more than five percent investment in Yahoo, hedge fund investor and activist shareholder Daniel Loeb has been very busy lately getting his arsenal ready.

While deciding whether to mount a proxy fight — a potentially nasty public fight with the Silicon Valley Internet giant that sources said could start much earlier than the expected February 24 filing date to make a board challenge — he’s also had at least one phone meeting with new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson in the last week to talk about the company’s future.

Sources said the talk was cordial, although the pair were not yet discussing any kind of rapprochement, which presumably could lead to board seats for Loeb.

But how far Loeb will go and how far Yahoo will give are the big open questions that are about to be answered.

The earliest nominations for directors by outsiders like Loeb can be submitted is February 24. He then has a month after that to propose a competing slate.

Starting last fall when he started accumulating Yahoo shares, Loeb had aggressively called for the ouster of Yahoo’s Chairman Roy Bostock and director and co-founder Jerry Yang. Yang stepped away from Yahoo earlier this month and Bostock just announced his upcoming departure this week.

Despite the renewed communication with Yahoo, Loeb is still acting like he might opt to fight — or at least freak out Yahoo enough to cooperate.

Among his recent activities, according to many sources:

* Attempting to assemble an alternate slate of directors — including trying to persuade high-profile entrepreneurs such as David Goldberg and Max Levchin to join his board. Loeb has been to Silicon Valley several times to stir that pot.

* Meeting with a spate of powerful tech execs, here and elsewhere, in order to gain support for his battle and search for his own preferred leaders for Yahoo. A favorite is Hulu CEO Jason Kilar.

* Working on hiring a top outside crisis communications firm to handle the expected onslaught of media mudslinging that is sure to take place.

* Buttonholing large Yahoo investors to join him and getting, sources said, more support than expected from bigger ones. That’s no surprise: Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors, Yahoo’s biggest institutional shareholders, voted against the company’s board in its last proxy battle and has been much disgruntled with the latest Yahoo stumbles.

* Recently reaching out to top Yahoo execs, including both Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer Blake Irving and Americas head Ross Levinsohn. Irving was so spooked by Loeb’s hello-there, several sources said, that he sent an email to Yahoo’s top staff about the contact attempt, noting he did not return the call (teacher’s pet alert!).

These are, of course, classic activist tactics by Loeb, aimed at getting the changes he wants made at Yahoo by applying real and perceived pressure.

Loeb had previously criticized the company’s talks with private equity investors, saying the prices being discussed were too low, which helped scuttle those talks.

Yahoo has also tried to gird itself and to assuage other shareholders and the media, as it can hardly stand what a proxy fight will do to its already battered image.

Some recent moves to look like it is on the move include: Loudly negotiating with its Asian partners for a big payday; making significant board changes; and hiring Thompson. Next up, as I previously reported, a large-scale restructuring and the inevitable cost-saving layoffs.

Who wins — and who blinks — in this Loeb versus Yahoo face-off, though, is still to be determined.

New Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Has Big Plans, but Can't Tell You About Them

Peter Kafka — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:11:34 +0000

You want news out of Scott Thompson? Then you’d be very disappointed with the Yahoo CEO today. Not surprisingly, the new boss — who wants us to remember that he’s really only officially been at work for two weeks — says it’s too early to talk about his plans.

But he does have some, he insists. For instance:

He has a plan to fix Yahoo’s big mess in Asia.
And he has a plan to help fix ad sales, which have been in turnaround for nine months and are still declining.
And he has a plan to buy some stuff to “fill in technology gaps” that will help with all of that.

But no details on any of that during the Q4 earnings call. Instead, Thompson repeated what he told Yahoo employees during his first address to them — Yahoo is both a media and technology company, and people should get their heads around that — and he laid out some big, pretty obvious ideas:

It’s important to pay attention to users and advertisers.
Yahoo should move fast, etc.
He’s going to double down on some existing Yahoo projects, and cut others.

Got it? Good. More details to come, Thompson says. And yes, for the record: That is a serious Massachusetts accent on the new guy.

—————–

EARLIER

Earlier this month, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson got on the phone with Wall Street analysts, and refused to discuss the company or his plans for it in much detail.

Fair enough: He had just been hired that morning, and had barely met anyone in the company.

So now it’s been nearly three weeks. Think he’ll offer much more in the way specifics, in the wake of the company’s Q4 earnings report?

Me, neither. But Wall Street will still be hungry for any scraps it can get, whether it’s an update on the company’s Asia mess, a hint about future cost-cutting moves, or a general “here’s what I think we should be doing” state-of-the-state.

We will definitely get a chance to hear the Boston accent that seemed to charm everyone so much in early January. Time to see if it’s still as effective.

4:58 pm: Greetings! Just doing some finger exercises in advance of the call. Also looking for some Kara Swisher aviator glasses, since La Swish is in transit and cannot cover the call herself. I’d say I’ll do my best to channel her as I type, but I don’t think I could handle that.

5:00 pm: There’s time for a quick ticker check: Investors still yawning, and YHOO shares are nearly flat, after-hours. But Apple!

5:01 pm: And we’re off. On the call: Thompson and CFO Tim Morse.

5:03 pm: Thompson: Even though I’ve been here for three weeks, my official start date was only two weeks ago. Still! I had strong opinions before I arrived, and since then, I’ve been looking around: Big opportunity here.

Powerful brand, lots of visitors: 702 million globally! Advertisers like us, etc. “We’re going to work not just at scale, but with speed.” “I feel great about that, but I’m still very clear that we have a lot of work to do.”

You want details? Won’t give ’em. But I’ll talk about guiding principles:

For me, I insist “that we be balanced.” Have to think about customers, who we are, [something I missed] and how we allocate capital. I’ll come back to this in a bit.

And before we get to any of that, let’s talk about Q4 numbers and 2012 projections.

[At this point you can consult the numbers they've already put out]

Let me praise some people. And, “there’s no question” that we can do better. “And we will.” Need to get to market faster, monetize better.

5:07 pm: Here’s Tim Morse, with some numbers. [Again, you can read most of this, so I'll skip most until he gets to the "color" part.]

Challenging quarter, but I’m proud of the team. Etc.

And now, some 2011 numbers. [Again, I'll also skip this stuff.]

[Meanwhile, here's Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney's take, fresh off the grill: "Fundamental trends remain nothing to email home about. The Display Advertising results were a clear negative, and the Search Advertising results continue to remain murky. Stock buybacks are (almost) always good … Scott Thompson has his work cut out for him …"]

Some details on our display missed. We missed by $15m; $10m of that is from Europe and macroeconomic stuff.

We’re nine months into salesforce revamp. We’re doing pretty good with that. “Several major advertisers” that had bailed or cut back on Yahoo spend have made “meaningful commitments for 2012.”

Some search notes. A reminder that we extended Microsoft search deal through 2013.

We’ll get to 2012 guidance in a minute. But first, a reminder that we’re still growing visitors and page views. More of that to come. U.S. elections and Olympics will be big for us.

“In short, we’ve made progress on many fronts, but that’s not the whole story.” Revenue isn’t growing, and “we expected better.”

5:18 pm: Guidance numbers, which you can also get from the release. But they are “not reflective” of our long-term goals. Because we want to grow.

And margins will get better, too.

And yes, we’re talking about fixing our Asia mess. But we won’t be able to go into details about that on this call.

5:21 pm: Back to Thompson. Okay. So here’s more on that “balance” stuff.

First: Customers. Both our users and our advertisers — we want them both to get real value from us, “and we will focus equally on both.”

We have to get people to use us more frequently. And we need advertisers to know we like them, we really like them.

5:22 pm: Two: “Balance in who we are.” We’re a media company and a tech company. We need to be great about both. “So we end the debate about which is more important … we must do both. End of discussion.”

Three: We gotta grow fast. “When it comes to making decisions, I make them quickly, and then push to move fast, fast, fast.”

Four: We gotta balance investment resources for today, tomorrow and long-term. Right allocation of capital is very important. Most resources have to go to “current core business.” But a lot also has to go to the products of tomorrow and the next 12 months. And also a “small but meaningful” amount into products that won’t show up for a year or more. We need a vibrant long-term product pipeline, and we have to consider businesses that don’t look anything like what we’re doing today.

But need to be very clear — not about restarting investment cycle. Refocusing, which means there are some things that we’re going to stop doing [that is, we'll have shutdowns and cuts].

I have some very clear ideas about the specifics of what we’ll do. But I won’t tell you about them.

Still, some big ideas: Customer experiences, and data.

5:26 pm: On customer experience: 702 million users a month. Did I mention that? Yes, I did. I’ll say it again. “But the sheer numbers of users will not get us to where we need to be.” We have to improve their experience while they’re here: Better interfaces, faster speed, deeper and “much more relevant content.”

And we need advertisers to get better results, and spend more money with Yahoo. [Don't do the opposite!]

On to data: We can use data to make the experience better for users — tweak layout, content, flow of the page and advertisers. “Nobody has done that yet on the Web.” “I know lots of companies talk about using data.” But we mean it. Crucial for you to understand that data is core to our plans. It “will be the key component for driving innovation at Yahoo.”

5:30 pm: So there’s some insight for you. Now on to strategic-review update. Roy said on last call that BOD considered a lot of alternatives. “It’s important for you to know that the company remains open to anything that’s good for our shareholders.” but we’re “focusing on what appears most promising.” “The work is ongoing, and I won’t say more about that today,” but it’s going to be good for shareholders.

Here’s the takeaway: There’s plenty of opportunity here. “Much bigger than the outside world imagines for us today.”

I’m here because we can do more.

5:32 pm: Alrighty. Q&A time.

Q: Please talk about that Interclick deal. What will they contribute in revenue and earnings? Also, update on revenue per search, please.

Morse: $25M of cost in Q1 from ICLK. $10M in revenue. We expect revenue to ramp throughout the year. As far as RPS increase, Microsoft is doing a nice job, and so are our sales guys.

“We’re definitely closing the gap” when it comes to search. But a reminder that we have a guarantee though March 2013.

Q: On that balance thing: How important will Q&A be here? Big deals in the works? Also, what do you see in macro environment?

Thompson: I think there’s going to be some stuff that we need that we don’t have, and so we’ll probably have to be “aggressive” in the market. “I’m relatively certain that there will be things that interest us” to help us “fill in technology gaps.”

Morse: Europe wasn’t great last quarter, and early indications are the same now. Not expecting much change this quarter, anywhere.

Q: How about a dividend? Also, how do your big principles play into display ad turnaround?

Thompson: “Too early” to imagine dividends. On turning around display: I’ve tried to spend a lot of time trying to figure out our problems there. “We are after that with a very high sense of urgency.” Number-one priority for now.

Q: Also on display. Any sacred cows going forward? Also, on premium video — how are your original series performing?

Thompson: Not sure how to interpret that cow question. “We are understanding and evaluating all options … personally, I’m being very aggressive.”

Morse: Last month, we had nine out of the top 10 original shows in U.S. We don’t give out revenue and pageview and streaming numbers, but “assume healthy growth there.” But more work to be done.

Q: Tim: Please give us more detail on premium display pricing. Scott: You guys made a lot of buzz with that Tom Hanks show announcement. Please discuss economics. Also: Experiment, or prelude to more?

Morse: Like I said, premium display below where we wanted, but it was in the range. And Interclick will make that better.

Thompson: Yeah, that was great buzz at CES. “It was more than the event itself,” everyone had nice things to say. “I was pleasantly surprised.” Not going to share details on dollars. So far, “we’ve had reasonably good success” with the originals we’ve done past.

Q: You talked about doing things Yahoo hasn’t done before. Like what? Also, for Morse: Shouldn’t he be worried about Yahoo’s share on mobile devices?

Thompson: Too early for me talk about strategically what we’re doing.

Morse: On search — yeah, we want to grow our O&O. In terms of mobile share, it’s so early right now. “It’s very intriguing in terms of how we’re going to play.”

But new revenue streams from mobile are even more important than existing ones.

Thompson: Important to point out that “no winner” has shown up yet when it comes to mobility. [Really?]

Thompson: Did I mention data? Let me mention it again. We have tons of it. It’s going to be huge for us. Data and technology can help us predict what users want to do next; it’s a huge advantage for us.

Q: Carol called this a communications company. Terry Semel called it a media company. And you?

Thompson: I had this all-hands meeting, and I said it again today. There’s this long-standing debate here. But “we better be darn good at both. In fact, I think we ought to great.”

Morse: Discussion of financials. Gap between reporter and subject.

Q: You said you’d realign around key areas of focus. But what’s new about that? Are there new verticals? Also, since you’re talking about investing, how does that jibe with operating margin goals?

Thompson: We’re working really hard to evaluate options. “Providing more detail for you today … is just a little bit premature.” “I actually feel a little bit bad” that I can’t tell you more.

“Just a little bit longer, if you will, before we get really specific” on that.

Morse: Yes, we’re going to spend money. But we’re also going to stop those projects, so we can move money around.

Q: On display: Seems like big opportunity to monetize your leftover inventory. Talk about that, please.

Morse: Yep. That’s one reason why we bought Interclick. (Also, theoretically, the reason for this.)

Q: Talk more about Interclick. $10m revenue, $25M costs. But that doesn’t look like what they were doing before you bought them — they had $2M EBITDA per quarter. What’s going on?

Morse: A lot of what they were doing before was related to Yahoo, so we have to eliminate some of that for reporting. Also, we’re building out so we can do more with that. Also, we have to start amortizing intangibles. Also! “This is the first quarter, right out the gate.”

Q: For Scott: You talked about growth before. Can you talk about growth via acquisition, and new business versus growth of existing business? Also, please talk about mobile traffic.

Thompson: I’ve talked to customers. “The conversations were fascinating.” People want us to grow. They also told us “exactly what we have to do to get more of their spend, today.” We can do that. We don’t have to grow solely via M&A. “The really good news is, the customers are there, they’re cheering for us.”

As far as mobile, I haven’t really seen the data. But I’m sure it’s growing really fast. It did at the last business I was at.

Morse: Right.

That’s it, everyone. All done for today.

Yahoo Gives "Retargeters" the Boot. Ad Networks Next?

Peter Kafka — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:29:06 +0000

More moves from Yahoo as it attempts to overhaul its flailing ad business: The Web giant has stopped doing business with “retargeting” companies who used to buy and resell its ads. And it may have similar plans for ad networks and other outsiders.

People familiar with Yahoo say that this week it told at least three retargeting companies — Criteo, TellApart, and ValueClick’s Dotomi — that it would stop selling them its “Class 2” remnant inventory, which the companies used to purchase on behalf of clients and essentially resell at a premium. The idea, theoretically, is that Yahoo will sell more of those ads itself.

The move follows the formation of an ad alliance between Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, which is meant in part to decrease the amount of inventory those companies sell to third-party players like retargeters. Industry sources believe Yahoo’s U.S. team, led by Ross Levinsohn, intends to follow its retargeter ban by going after ad networks — a much larger group of outside players who buy and resell Yahoo’s inventory.

But so far Yahoo appears to be acting on its own when it comes to keeping its stuff away from outsiders. Neither AOL or Microsoft have made similar moves.

Yahoo declined to comment and I haven’t heard back from Criteo and ValueClick. TellApart CEO Josh McFarland offered this statement via email:

TellApart maintains a good working relationship with Yahoo, yet this approach to the ad marketplace would be increasingly opposite that of Google’s.

It was my team at Google that built the ecosystem around AdWords, and third parties fueled huge growth in search advertising revenue as a result. DoubleClick is now compounding that success with real time bidding and an open Ad Exchange, which offers full access to all owned properties and the Google Display Network. This approach stands in contrast to Yahoo’s.

Retargeters try to track Web users as they visit clients’ sites — usually retailers — and try to sell them related ads when they move to other properties. (Here’s an illustrated guide from Criteo about the process, though it doesn’t mention the part about Criteo buying ads on other properties).

They’re part of a larger trend in Web advertising that puts a greater value on who sees the ads, and pays less attention to where they see them — which has diminished the ability of Yahoo and other “premium” publishers to charge high prices for their inventory. Meanwhile, retargeters, ad networks and other outsiders have been able to buy cheap unsold inventory from Yahoo and others, and resell it at a premium.

The Yahoo-led coalition with AOL and Microsoft is meant in part to give those companies more control of their inventory, and eventually the ability to raise prices. And apparently Yahoo’s unilateral move this week is meant to do the same thing.

But there’s a fundamental catch-22 here: Reclaiming inventory will only work if Yahoo can sell it. And the reason that Yahoo was willing to hand it off to third-parties in the first place was because it couldn’t sell it.

Yahoo U.S. head Ross Levinsohn is trying upgrade his sales technology and staff with a variety of moves, including his recently announced deal to buy Interclick, though that deal won’t close for several months.

Yahoo Buys Ad Network Interclick for $270 Million

Peter Kafka — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:21:22 +0000

Ross Levinsohn

Aha! A Yahoo rumor that is actually true: The portal is buying ad network Interclick for $270 million.

The all-cash deal values each Interclick share at $9, or about 21 percent higher than the $7.4 per share that the New York-based company closed at yesterday. It’s supposed to close “by early 2012.”

Ad tech sources have been buzzing about a big Yahoo M&A play for many months, and several folks have pointed to Interclick as a logical candidate.

You can try to parse the explanation of the deal in the release below, but I’ll try to sum it up here:

Among Yahoo’s many problems is that its once-great sales organization is broken. Yahoo Americas boss Ross Levinsohn believes he can fix it with a combination of new talent and technology, as well as a strength-in-numbers plan he has tried to cobble together with Microsoft and AOL. Interclick fits into this plan because Yahoo intends to use the company’s tech and relationships to help it sell more of the remnant inventory that it currently hands over to ad networks.

It’s also worth pointing out the obvious here — that even as Yahoo’s endless sale-or-maybe-not-who-knows process grinds along, the company still has to keep operating. This isn’t a game-changer for Yahoo, and at less than 2 percent of its market cap, something bigger than a tuck-in, but still pretty small. But whoever does end up with Yahoo will want an ad business that’s not spiraling into a hole, so if this helps Levinsohn pull that off, it will be money well-spent.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO – News), the premier digital media company, and interclick, inc. (NASDAQ:ICLK – News) today announced a definitive agreement for Yahoo! to acquire interclick. interclick’s proprietary advertising and technology solutions enable it to dramatically improve data targeted solutions and optimized returns for advertisers across a variety of pooled premium supply sources. interclick has built the industry’s leading data valuation platform optimized to work with large data volumes across multiple providers and marketplaces. With interclick, Yahoo! will acquire unique data targeting capabilities, optimization technologies and new premium supply, as well as a team experienced in selling audiences across disparate sources of pooled supply.

“This investment underscores our focus on enhancing the performance of both our guaranteed and non-guaranteed display business across Yahoo and our partner sites and, combined with Yahoo!’s reach and advertising leadership, will deliver a powerful solution for marketers,” said Ross Levinsohn, EVP, Americas region. “interclick’s innovative platform will allow Yahoo! to expand its targeting and data capabilities to deliver campaigns with stronger performance metrics.”

interclick helps marketers navigate the complex data online ecosystem with tools such as Open Segment Manager (OSM) and its Genome Platform. These solutions were built to address the fundamental challenges of audience targeting by enabling a more holistic understanding of consumers through its deep integrations with leading data providers.

“Having worked closely with Yahoo! for the past few years, we have a deep appreciation of the quality of the inventory that Yahoo! brings to market. The combination of Yahoo!’s premium data and inventory with our platforms will create tremendous value for clients,” said Michael Katz, founder and CEO of interclick. “I would personally like to thank our team, our clients and our Board who helped to make interclick the success it has become.”

“We believe that this is a great outcome for our shareholders,” said Michael Brauser, interclick Co-Chairman of the Board. “Michael Katz and his team have done a tremendous job over the past few years and I’m proud to have helped make this outcome a reality.”

Tender Offer

Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will commence an all cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of interclick at $9.00 per share. The transaction has an estimated total equity value of approximately $270 million.

The transaction was unanimously approved by the interclick Board of Directors and all interclick directors and executive officers have entered into agreements with Yahoo! to support the transaction and to tender their shares in the offer.

The companies expect the tender offer to close by early 2012. The closing of the tender offer is subject to customary terms and conditions, including the tender of a number of shares which is at least a majority of the total number of outstanding interclick common shares (determined on a fully diluted basis), the expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other conditions set forth in the agreement. The agreement also provides for a merger to be completed following the tender offer which would result in all shares not tendered being converted into the right to receive $9.00 in cash.

GCA Savvian Advisors, LLC acted as the lead financial advisor to interclick in connection with the transaction.

All for One! Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft Band Together for Ad Plan.

Peter Kafka — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:44:05 +0000

AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft compete for ad dollars. But a new pact calls for the rivals to cooperate on ad sales, too.

The three companies are going to start selling ad inventory on each others’ sites, in a plan they hope will make them more competitive with Google.

The strategy is also designed to help them claw back some ad spending that has ended up in the hands of ad networks in recent years.

Executives from all three companies briefed a group of top Web publishers and ad buyers about the plan at a dinner presentation last night in Manhattan. AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft hope to convince big Web properties to share some of their ad inventory as well, and to get big ad holding companies to funnel some of their purchases through the consortium.

The idea, according to people who attended the meeting: Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL have agreed to sell each other’s “Class 2 display” inventory — graphic ads the companies can’t sell on their own and would normally hand over to ad networks.

The theory is that if, say, AOL has a big order for a certain kind of ad impressions, it will fill it with its own inventory as well as with what’s available from Microsoft and Yahoo.

The three companies will share revenue on the ads, and supposedly they’ll pocket more than they would have if a third-party ad network sold their stuff. It’s up to each of the three companies to figure out how to convince their own sales teams to sell their competitors’ inventory.

The plan, which is supposed to start up by the end of this year, doesn’t require exclusivity from any of the players. And it doesn’t prevent any consortium member from working with any ad network, ad tech company or even Google.

But it’s clearly targeted at all of those groups, and Google in particular. Google has made almost all of its money in search ads, but has been moving aggressively into display ads in the last few years, and recently unseated Yahoo as the biggest display ad player in the U.S.

The plan has strong echoes of arrangements other publishers have tried before. In 2009, News Corp. digital boss Jon Miller spent time trying to assemble a similar coalition of big Web players, including the three leading the new consortium. (News Corp. also owns this Web site.)

The plan is also similar to 5to1, a start-up that wanted to build “an online advertising alliance consisting exclusively of major media publishers.” Yahoo purchased the company in May, and Yahoo Americas head Ross Levinsohn put 5to1 CEO Jim Heckman to work on replicating the strategy at his new employer.

Levinsohn pitched the plan on behalf of Yahoo at last night’s dinner meeting, say people who attended; AOL CEO Tim Armstrong attended as well, though his newish ad boss Ned Brody presented for his company. Microsoft advertising COO Dave O’Hara represented Redmond.

Yang Says "Not for Sale": All Hands on Yahoo's Slippery Deck!

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:36:38 +0000

At a prequel for the many VPs of Yahoo to the all-hands meeting for all 13,500 employees of the Silicon Valley Internet giant that is taking place at 11 am, Yahoo co-founder, director and former CEO Jerry Yang told the group the company was “not for sale.”

Even though, of course, it was hiring advisory firms, such as Allen & Co., to explore strategic options. Many justifiably feel “for sale” is just what Yahoo is.

Instead, Yang reassured the troops that it was business as usual at the company, in spite of the abrupt firing of its current CEO Carol Bartz yesterday.

One attendee emailed me: “Really?“

Yang told the group that the aim was to grow revenue and profit, but did not put forth a specific plan as yet. He also said the search was on for a new CEO.

Meanwhile, interim CEO Tim Morse spoke only at the end of the meeting, for the last 10 minutes.

Morse continued to be Yang’s sidekick at the all-hands meeting later, in which they reiterated their no-sale motto.

Still, the troops were restless and the event included a lot of pointed questions from employees about the ouster of Bartz and how that was going to get the company growing again.

One employee asked the board to give Bartz’s $10 million severance package to charity, to much applause.

Another query was about the shift on Bartz by Yahoo’s Chairman Roy Bostock, who praised her performance earlier this summer at the annual meeting.

How, asked the employee, did Yahoo go from full support of Bartz to fired? The basic answer from Yang: Things change!

Another employee asked about the bid to buy the Hulu premium video service. Americas head Ross Levinsohn’s answer: Yahoo did not need it to win.

Both Levinsohn and product head Blake Irving stressed how big Yahoo still is, although Yahoo’s kind of big today might not mean better.

Employees — I love them for channelling exactly what I would have asked — pressed Morse on when the strategery would be done this time. A few months, he said.

But perhaps the toughest query was about how did the board fire the CEO without first having a plan in place, which the questioning employee noted had further worsened trust issues with Yahoo leadership.

It got the biggest applause.

Trust us, said Yang.

That’s a big ask for beleaguered Yahoo staffers these days.

Meanwhile, Yahoo filed a new-less 8-K regulatory filing today about the Bartz firing.

In it, Yahoo wrote: “No new compensatory or severance arrangements were entered into in connection with these leadership changes. Ms. Bartz will receive severance benefits
for termination without cause as provided in her employment and equity award agreements.”

Here it is:

YHOO-20110907-8K-20110906

My Picks for Yahoo's Next CEO -- Maybe Snoop Dogg, Ya Digg?

Kara Swisher — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:00:32 +0000

The firing of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz leaves open one of the bigger and more difficult jobs in tech — one that has taken its toll on many.

Nonetheless, rapper Snoop Dogg stepped right up to the Twitter plate yesterday, as soon as news broke of the ouster.

Tweeted Snoop Dogg:

“Im takn over as tha CEO of Yahoo. Need sum of tha Snoop Dogg content ya digg. Nuff Said.”

Not nearly nuff!

Thus, while the Yahoo board has yet to begin a search, I have already been hard at work on selecting the next CEO.

(Last time, the company took none of my suggestions, but after the most recent result, the directors might want to pay mind!)

Sources said Yahoo is looking for an experienced Internet type, either from inside or outside the company.

“Yahoo has put its flag in the ground as a digital media company with a technology base,” said one source. “The job requires big buckets of expertise and needs someone who will grow the company.”

Here I go with the outsiders:

Peter Chernin: The former News Corp. exec has been eyeing Yahoo for a possible takeover with other investors. Both Yahoo and I had picked him when co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down as CEO almost three years ago, and he had declined the offer. This time, perhaps a big chunk of the company and total autonomy would work, even if making a hit like “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is more fun.

Sheryl Sandberg: The COO of Facebook is sort of the anti-Bartz, with a smooth and efficient persona, and she is an experienced tech exec. But the former Google exec is at a place of growth at the social networking site, and is unlikely to want to leave the big show, especially since a blockbuster IPO is looming.

Jason Kilar: The Hulu CEO is in the midst of the process of selling the premium video service, with Yahoo as a bidder. While he has some tense relations with the studios, Kilar is top notch in his dedication to consumer products, and has a lot of experience from his stint at Amazon, too.

Dan Rosensweig: Currently CEO of IPO-headed Chegg textbook rental service, the former Yahoo exec never got a chance to run the company as its top leader. Well-connected and still well-liked by the troops at Yahoo, it still would be pretty hard for him to go home again.

Dave Goldberg: Sure, he’s married to Sandberg (see above), but the savvy CEO of polling phenom SurveyMonkey is one of the sharpest thinkers in Silicon Valley. He sold his music company to Yahoo many years ago and has a strong background in consumer online services.

Jon Miller: The chief digital exec at News Corp. almost got the CEO spot years ago when Carl Icahn was agitating for change at Yahoo, before Time Warner blocked him via a noncompete. With the mishegas at the media giant, and dwindling digital businesses there, it might be a good escape hatch for Miller.

Susan Wojcicki: The accomplished Google exec, who runs all its ad products, has the kind of calm, cool, collected persona that Yahoo could use right about now. The search giant was founded in her garage, and she has been a key part of its success since then. Wojcicki is also an understated class act in hey-look-at-me Silicon Valley.

Todd Bradley: The Hewlett-Packard exec just got blindsided when the company kicked webOS to the curb. While he is in line to run a possible spinoff of the device business, Bradley might also want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire.

Mike McCue: The CEO of Flipboard would certainly energize Yahoo with his intense focus on quality and consumer delight. The news app start-up could be a good addition to Yahoo, and McCue, the former Netscape and Microsoft exec who is well-liked in the Internet scene, would be, too.

Joanne Bradford: The former Yahoo advertising head bolted Bartz’s regime early on to run revenue for Demand Media. Well-liked in the ad business, she also knows where all the bodies are buried at Yahoo. Since ads and media are key at the company, she’d make an interesting choice.

Yusuf Mehdi: The Microsoft online exec would also be a left-field candidate to run Yahoo, given his even-keeled personality and longtime experience in the sector. And, though pricey, Mehdi’s impact on Bing search has been important. But he’s also been involved in the software giant’s lackluster ad and search partnership and still has not turned around the situation at MSN.

Kevin Johnson: The former Microsoft exec and current CEO of Juniper was once slated to be the CEO of Yahoo, had Microsoft managed to win the company in its hostile takeover attempt. In fact, Johnson was the architect of the idea of Yahoo running the media and Microsoft running the tech.

Tim Armstrong: Well, he might have been a good candidate before the downward slide of AOL and a recent series of questionable judgments. If Armstrong can’t keep a loud tech blogger in line, it’s not clear he can wrangle the Yahoo beast.

And here’s the insider scoop:

Ross Levinsohn: The former News Corp. exec is running the Americas for Yahoo, which puts him in charge of the company’s key businesses. But he’s still struggling to turn the ad business around, and how well he does that could be a major determinant of his success. But fantastic hair!

Blake Irving: The former Microsoft exec has an amiable nature and is well-liked at Yahoo, but he still needs to show that the company can ship some innovative products, and quickly. Like Livestand, the news reader, which is muchly late.

David Kenny: The Yahoo board member is now president of Akamai, which might preclude him from the job. But the well-regarded exec — he’s a snazzy dresser, too — ran one of the Internet’s top digital ad agencies and now has tech chops from the content delivery network.

Memo to Yahoo board: I have a million more ideas, from former Viacom exec Tom Freston to former Yahoo board member Eric Hippeau. Or why not bring back a passel of former Yahoos to advise, such as former CEO Terry Semel or former president Sue Decker?

Or Oprah! I hear Winfrey will be in Silicon Valley later this week, and she has a lot more free time now.

Like Snoop Dogg, she would fo shizzle be the bomb to cover.

Insider Buying: Top Execs -- But Not Its CEO Carol Bartz -- Purchase Shares of Yahoo on the Open Market

Kara Swisher — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:31:21 +0000

While they are only small transactions, two of Yahoo’s top execs — Americas head Ross Levinsohn and its Chief Product Officer Blake Irving (pictured here) — seem to have forked over their own dough to buy shares of the troubled company.

Levinsohn and Irving — like a lot of other Yahoos in the same leaky boat — have lots of stock options in the Silicon Valley Internet giant that are likely very much underwater these days. They also have hundreds of thousands of cost-free restricted stock units.

Still, with Yahoo shares in a free fall, the pair apparently bellied up to the bar and purchased stock directly last Friday and on Monday, according to required insider filings.

Levinsohn bought 10,000 shares at $11.61 and Irving got 10,000 at $11.23.

It seems they are the only high-ranking execs who have bought Yahoo stock in a while, including its CEO Carol Bartz, without some link to shares they have been given by the company and via programmed or automatic purchases and sales.

Executives buying shares of their own company often are an indicator of confidence in the company, and CEOs — such as AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has — often do it in dicey times to make a statement of belief in its prospects.

It will be interesting to see if other Yahoo top execs do the same.

Yahoo could certainly use the boost. Shares are down 23 percent since the beginning of the year, giving it an affordable $16.7 billion market valuation.

Still, while both men initially lost money in the current market turmoil that has also hit Yahoo hard, they seem to be up about $10,000 each, for now, on their approximately $110,000 bets that Yahoo shares are too low.

Its stock closed up today 9.3 percent, at $12.86.

Not-So-Chart-tastic Picture of Yahoo's Q2 Display Disaster

Kara Swisher — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:43:29 +0000

Here are the slides Yahoo released about its second quarter earnings, in which revenue was down due to an unexpected drop in growth in its display advertising business, especially in the critical U.S. market.

As you can see on Page 8 of the deck, year-over-year display sales rose only five percent in the quarter, compared to much more significant increases in previous quarters. With declines in all other revenue sectors, this was not a good thing.

The 10 percent decline in the Americas region, which you can see on Page 9, is the culprit, as Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz underlined in the conference call with Wall Street analysts today.

Paging Ross Levinsohn — leader of Yahoo’s Americas region and its ad efforts — stat!

YHOO_Q2_11EarningsPresentation_Final

Is There a Myspace Mafia, Too? Because Leaving Seems to Have Paid Off for Many Ex-Execs.

Kara Swisher — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:28:02 +0000

When the selling of Myspace winds down in the next week or so, it’ll probably attract a spate of comments about what a failure the whole social networking enterprise turned out to be.

And — especially when you recall what a Web phenom the social networking site was before it got blown out of the water by Facebook — it was.

That is, unless you think of the mob of former execs who have worked at the company over time, many of whom have moved on to some more golden opportunities after leaving the News Corp.-owned property.

That includes, most recently and notably, former sales head Michael Barrett, who is about to score big as CEO of AdMeld, which is reportedly in the process of selling to Google for $400 million.

Also a big winner: Former Myspace CEO Owen Van Natta, who was fired from that job in one of its many putsches and who quickly rebounded to a top job at online gaming powerhouse Zynga.

So, while it is one of the more overused memes of Silicon Valley, the “mafia” analogy — which has been applied to fertile entrepreneurial breeding grounds such as PayPal, before its acquisition by eBay — is useful when thinking about Myspace.

It is also a good thing to keep in mind about any tech company that goes off the rails: There might still be a silver lining, even if the start-up never sees the light of day again.

As proof, herein is a list I created after pinging a bunch of former Myspace folks:

Jason Oberfest: Former SVP of business development. Now, VP Ngmoco, which was sold to Japanese gaming giant DeNA for $400 million last year.

Dmitry Shapiro: Former CTO, Myspace Music. Now, at Facebook competitor Altly.

Adam Bain: While at Fox Interactive Media, he ran the ad platform for Myspace. Now, head of sales at Twitter.

Jeff Berman: Former president of sales and marketing. Now, GM of the NFL’s digital media unit.

Jason Hirschhorn: Former co-president and chief product officer. Now, on MGM board, angel investor, and there are rumors of him working on a curation start-up.

Amit Kapur: Former COO. Now, CEO, Gravity, an information filtering service start-up.

Chris DeWolfe: Co-founder and former CEO. Now, CEO, MindJolt, an online gaming roll-up.

Ross Levinsohn: Former president of FIM, he was integral to buying Myspace. Now, EVP of Americas unit, Yahoo.

Mike Lang: Former News Corp. strategy exec also involved in Myspace purchase. Now, CEO, Miramax.

Aber Whitcomb: Former CTO. Now CTO, MindJolt.

Jim Heckman: Former chief strategy officer of FIM. Now, CEO of 5to1, recently sold to Yahoo for $25 million.

Dani Dudeck: Former communications head. Now, PR head at Zynga.

Travis Katz: SVP of international. Now, CEO of Gogobot, a social travel start-up.

Richard Rosenblatt: Former CEO of Intermix Media and Chairman of Myspace, he sold it to News Corp. Now, CEO of Demand Media.

Angela Courtin: Former SVP of marketing. Now, EVP at Aegis Media.

These folks should be on the call list of whoever ends up buying Myspace. Last week, I wrote that an investor group, including Activision head Bobby Kotick, is now in the lead for the deal.

As an update, according to sources, Kotick has gotten clearance from Activision’s major shareholder Vivendi to do the Myspace transaction as a passive personal investment.

Yahoo Americas Ad and Media Head Ross Levinsohn Talks Up, Well, Yahoo! (Video)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:05:16 +0000

Longtime Internet exec Ross Levinsohn only got to Yahoo about seven months ago as head of its Americas region, but he certainly isn’t shy about touting its attributes vigorously.

Including talking about the size and power of the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s content and advertising business, which he is largely in charge of.

This, despite a number of troubling trends at Yahoo — from continuous talent drain to search advertising declines to its recent problems with its Asian partners.

And, of course, that persistently missing vision thing, as well as longtime shareholder dissatisfaction.

Yahoo’s shares are now trading in the low $15 range, and heading south as it heads into its annual meeting in two weeks.

But Levinsohn — the former News Corp. digital exec who was one of the livelier presences at Yahoo’s recent stock-unmoving investor conference — makes the case in this video interview that the company has what it takes to revive itself.

Plus, I finally find out the secret of the his hair-tastic coif — would that Yahoo could be as shiny and healthy.

(In case you need as much Yahoo info as possible, I also did a March video interview with its other top exec, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, who has different tonsorial attributes than Levinsohn.)

Here’s Levinsohn, whom I spoke with last week:

[ See post to watch video ]

Bad Share Day: Yahoo Stock Limp After Investor Day (and Google's Swiping of Its Ad Title)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 26 May 2011 19:07:15 +0000

Apparently, reassurances about its relationship with Chinese partner Alibaba Group and some lively presentations by top execs at a six-hour investor day yesterday did almost nothing for Yahoo shares.

The stock of the Silicon Valley Internet giant continues to stay mired on either side of $16 a share today, as it has been since it got into a very public fight with Alibaba over the spin-out of its Alipay online payments unit.

Alipay got its license from the People’s Bank of China today, due in part to moving the unit to the ownership of Alibaba founder and CEO Jack Ma, but that also did squat for Yahoo shares.

Also dragging the stock down: An IDC report released today that shows that Yahoo has lost its number-one display advertising title to Google. The search giant’s share of that market in the U.S. rose to 14.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, while Yahoo’s declined to 12.3 percent.

That’s not good news, even though both Yahoo’s Chief Product Officer Blake Irving and its U.S. media and advertising head Ross Levinsohn both gave energetic presentations at Yahoo’s investor day yesterday.

The two execs–one sporting a natty blazer and the other his patented hair-tastic ’do–trotted out a lot of can-do stats and fancy plans for the audience, which was mostly preoccupied with Yahoo’s China problem.

In contrast, CEO Carol Bartz, CFO Tim Morse and co-founder Jerry Yang were mind-numbingly rote on that thorny issue, noting that negotiations with Alibaba were ongoing and would remain private.

(As if–if I have anything to say about it!)

Bartz told the group of investors and Wall Street analysts yesterday that Yahoo “really believe[s] we are working towards protecting the value of Alibaba Group. The emphasis is on discussion. [We're] not going to get into a public back-and-forth.”

Having already done that in a ham-handed way the week before, that’s probably a most excellent idea for the shoot-from-the-hip exec.

In any case, investors don’t seem to want to take Bartz’s word for any of it until she delivers–both a China solution and, more importantly, turbocharging of both its core search and display advertising businesses.

Yahoo Preps for Investor Day Tomorrow, While Investors Prep for a Yahoo Grilling

Kara Swisher — Tue, 24 May 2011 17:05:33 +0000

The execs at Yahoo were huddled yesterday and also today, getting ready for its investor day tomorrow morning.

It’s probably a good idea, especially since the Silicon Valley Internet giant has to come up with a good answer to how it is settling the recent kerfuffle with Chinese partner Alibaba Group.

A settlement announcement over the spinoff of Alibaba’s Alipay payments unit would be the best thing Yahoo could deliver by tomorrow, of course.

All parties–Alibaba, Yahoo and Japan’s SoftBank–I spoke to said a resolution was still being worked on, but one assumes reaching one sooner than later would be a big coup for Yahoo.

Barring that, China will surely be Question No. 1–and likely Nos. 2 through 23–from about 200 Wall Street analysts and big shareholders gathered from 8 am to 2 pm at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose to hear about how Yahoo is doing in 2011.

Given that the China problem has kept Yahoo stock stuck in the $16 doldrums for weeks now, after it had seen some progress before that, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and the passel of top execs presenting–Ross Levinsohn, Blake Irving and Tim Morse, among others–will have to scratch that itchy itch first before moving on to other questions.

In the interests of making the day interesting–and because press is not invited–I am here to help those investors without a clue of what to ask.

Thus, my list, in no particular order:

* Now that a newish management structure is in place, what is the big vision for Yahoo going forward?

* Please explain in detail the issues raised in the recent earnings call with the search and online advertising partnership with Microsoft, and should the deal be re-negotiated?

* Do you need to make more cuts in staff–which seems to have creeped back up in size?

* Why is Yahoo still in search in such a significant and expensive way, especially since market share is declining?

* How is the display market faring and how does Yahoo plan to innovate its flagship advertising business?

* Engagement is a key metric these days, so how is Yahoo going to improve its customer relationships, besides saying it will?

* What new and innovative products are in the pipeline–and you may not trot out Livestand for the umpteenth time as an example, unless you want me to start calling it Not-Flipboard–and when will they launch?

* Has Yahoo considered other ownership options that would better reward long-suffering shareholders?

* And, oh yes, China. Let’s not forget about China.

(Although media is not invited to the investor confab, I will be covering it via a live stream Yahoo is offering–you didn’t think I would miss it?)

Yahoo Looking at 5to1 Purchase for $25 Million

Kara Swisher — Thu, 12 May 2011 02:50:32 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo is in advanced talks to buy 5to1, a self-serve premium advertising platform, for $25 million.

The Los Angeles start-up is run by Jim Heckman, a well-known Internet exec.

It also was co-founded and funded by Yahoo Americas head Ross Levinsohn, but he apparently divested himself from 5to1 when he joined Yahoo.

Levinsohn and Heckman worked together at Fox Interactive, a News Corp. unit.

The company had raised about $13 million in venture funding, including from Fuse Capital, which was where Levinsohn worked before coming to Yahoo.

That link is likely to make the deal, which is not yet complete, carefully scrutinized inside and outside Yahoo.

Hold the Sports Phone: Ross Levinsohn Not Leaving Yahoo for HBO

Kara Swisher — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:45:36 +0000

While there has been a report on a boxing news site that Yahoo Americas head Ross Levinsohn was leaving the Internet giant to run HBO’s sports unit, it’s not so.

Trust BoomTown on this one–I have all top Yahoo execs embedded with Apple iOS and Google Android location tracking devices.

Apparently, calling to ask about such a big move is tough one-two for BoxingScene.com, but Yahoo confirmed the non-departure and Levinsohn did too in a brief phone conversation.

“I’m not leaving,” he said.

Yahoo Bored Meeting? Not This Time!

Kara Swisher — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:35:48 +0000

Today and tomorrow, Yahoo’s directors are gathering here in Silicon Valley for one of their regular meetings that take place over the course of the year.

While board meetings in general are usually pretty dull affairs–and Yahoo’s, in particular, are typically glacial ones–there is a lot on the plates of those with purview over the machinations of the long-struggling Silicon Valley Internet giant.

Here’s a primer of what might (and might not) be happening, according to sources, of course, as Yahoo continues on its quest to reinvigorate itself–a journey that is beginning to make Siddhartha’s transformation into Buddha enlightenment look speedy.

A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment on anything below, although I did run it all by them.

The U-Shaped Turnaround

At Yahoo’s recent sales meeting in San Antonio, CEO Carol Bartz went all Sesame Street on the troops, using the letter “U” as an illustration to indicate where in the cycle the company was in its turnaround.

Apparently, just on the other side of the very bottom of the letter, heading inevitably upward.

Her argument was that the company has finally cleaned up its platform mess and its confusing corporate structure, and that its display and search advertising business is now recovering nicely.

All true, except there are some other key issues, such as the slowness of the search and online advertising partnership with Microsoft to make some serious hay.

In fact, although its display business will show a definite strong recovery in Yahoo’s quarterly results next week, its search business–both in market share and revenue per search (RPS)–has, as one person close to the situation put it succintly, “fallen off the cliff.”

That’s due, in part, to getting the new system with Microsoft delivering better results, which is not happening yet (if ever!).

In this quarter, Microsoft has honored its contractual guarantees and will make up the difference–which will result in masking the magnitude of the RPS loss. It’s a worrisome trend to watch.

The Asia Situation

Yahoo and its Asian partners are still mulling over various options regarding the company’s large ownership stakes there.

What is happening with its share in China’s Alibaba Group, according to sources, is precisely nothing right now, as has been made clear in recent comments by its CEO and co-founder Jack Ma.

“If you cannot make the business cool, you have no right to be angry with me,” said Ma in an article in Forbes published this week, referring to Yahoo. “I just don’t trust them…I’ve been working with them for years, and I’m disappointed.”

Relations between Ma and Bartz, sources said, remain as bad as ever, and even the normally close one between Ma and Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is strained.

Plus, Ma told Forbes, as he has said before, Alibaba is not taking its auction site, Taobao, public–leaving Yahoo in possession of an appreciating but decidedly private asset.

Japan is a different story, with the disposition of Yahoo’s stake in Yahoo! Japan the subject of long and continuing negotiations for a while now.

While the earthquake and tsunami crisis there did slow discussions down, there is still active recent movement about a variety of cashing-out scenarios, all of which have massive tax and regulatory issues.

Without boring you with the specifics, one option is to create a tracking stock, another a spin-off of the asset and still another some sort of stock trade.

But no matter what happens, Yahoo will have to pay some sort of taxes on its 35 percent stake in Yahoo! Japan, now worth $8 billion.

But if its CFO Tim Morse–the key figure working on the deal–can pull it off, what will Yahoo do with all that money?

Acquisition Guns Blazing? Or Sputtering?

In a recent forum in Silicon Valley, one of its M&A minions said Yahoo had its “guns blazing” with regard to acquisition activity in 2011, as deliciously reported in The Wall Street Journal, despite the company’s lackluster acquisition record.

Sources said the exec had his ears soundly boxed by his managers for the dopey remarks, since Yahoo has had such a lackluster record in the arena–especially compared to others.

And, oh yes, Yahoo’s M&A head just decamped to gaming phenom Zynga.

That aside, Yahoo should be deep in the market for hot start-ups to help revive its innovative spirit, but it remains hindered by a continued reluctance by new start-ups to join it and by its reputation for being a place where entrepreneurs go to die.

That certainly could change at any time with the right execs in place, but Yahoo is competing with a plethora of more exciting companies and also a seemingly endless venture capital gusher of cash of late.

While it is the board’s job to approve acquisitions and not source them, perhaps it is its job to pressure Bartz and other execs to get off the stick and hit at least one of the targets Yahoo aims at.

Targets are plentiful in advertising, content and even social, with many start-ups playing right into a lot of arenas Yahoo needs some help.

And help it does need as talent keeps walking out the door daily, mostly to hotter prospects such as Zynga and social buying sites Groupon and LivingSocial.

There is no question it is hard for any large company to hold onto top staff when there are so many enticing bonbons out there as options, but it can be done.

One good thing: Its newish head of product Blake Irving and head of U.S. media and advertising Ross Levinsohn seem to be playing well together and are setting a tone of stability that is much needed.

Enter the Kenny

That said, there remains endless swirl, especially with key investors, about the performance of its CEO.

While she started off as a publicly in-your-face exec, Bartz has definitely stepped out of the limelight of late, as her pugnacious manner started to irritate Wall Street and others.

It was a good idea, since it has taken the focus off the lack of stock and revenue progress she had loudly promised.

Still, Yahoo shares have continued to stay locked in the mid-teens, as investors wait for some sign that Bartz’s turnaround has worked.

The entrance of its spanking new director, Akamai President David Kenny, has further increased speculation about management and board changes at Yahoo.

This is Kenny’s first board meeting, but this well-connected newbie is someone who is clearly going to rise quickly to the top of decision-making at Yahoo.

That’s because the smooth and well-liked Kenny, who also has deep advertising experience as founder of the Digitas agency, has a long relationship with Yahoo and also with Yang.

He also now has much more tech cred as a leader of one of the Internet’s most important infrastructure companies, with a ton of regular contacts with media giants, ad networks and video providers that are Akamai’s clients.

In other words, Kenny (pictured here) is the full package of ad and tech experience that would make him an obvious Yahoo CEO candidate when Bartz’s contract is up in early 2013, if not before.

He’s also the person most likely to take over for longtime BoomTown punching bag Roy Bostock as chairman of the board at some point.

None of this is happening soon, but it is clearly an interesting development.

There are other machinations, of course, from continued interest from private equity players in Yahoo, as well as a variety of takeover scenarios, each more complex than the next.

While often derided as yesterday’s news by the elite of Silicon Valley as on an inevitable downward path, those plots are there because Yahoo remains a stellar brand with consumers worldwide and an Internet property with huge traffic and a big ad business.

In other words, it’s a U that someday maybe could be a V.

Exclusive: Yahoo Nabs Microsoft Exec Brett Wayn to Help Local Efforts

Kara Swisher — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 07:26:46 +0000

After it struck its online advertising and search partnership with Yahoo, Microsoft tapped longtime Internet exec Brett Wayn (pictured here) to work with Greg Nelson during the integration.

Well, Wayn must have liked what he saw at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, since he is bouncing there from his job at the Redmond, Wash. software giant to help run local efforts at Yahoo.

[UPDATING local roles at Yahoo.]

Wayn will be working for Chief Product Officer Blake Irving and will be responsible for product management of Yahoo’s local “horizontal.”

He will work closely with whoever Yahoo finds as a replacement for Matt Idema, a longtime Yahoo exec who shuttled over to Facebook as a director of business operations, working on the local arena.

Luke Beatty, who heads up Yahoo’s Americas region community and local businesses, including Flickr, Groups, Answers and hundreds of local sites, is doing Idema’s job for now within Americas head Ross Levinsohn’s unit.

Local is a hugely hot space right now, with a spate of Web focus from giants like Google and Facebook to powerful start-ups such as Foursquare and Groupon.

Wayn has more recently been working on international for Microsoft’s MSN portal. The Australian native has also worked at AOL and, interestingly, has an actual medical degree.

In other words: Paging Dr. Local, stat!

Another Yahoo Loves Group Buying, As Top Ad Sales Exec Mitch Spolan Heads to LivingSocial

Kara Swisher — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 06:16:06 +0000

Yahoo has lost another one of its top advertising sales execs, Mitch Spolan, to a hot start-up of the moment–this time to LivingSocial.

The move by Yahoo’s head of North American field sales is the second major loss by the Silicon Valley Internet portal to a social buying site. Another Yahoo sales lead, Lee Brown, left Yahoo late last year to head sales at Groupon.

Spolan–who is a long time Yahoo sales exec, having survived a myriad of new bosses and management turmoil over his dozen years there–will become SVP of national sales at the Washington, D.C.-based LivingSocial.

In an interesting irony, he will be competing directly with Brown, who used to work for Spolan at Yahoo, in the red-hot online local discounting space.

Another irony: For the first time in 12 years, Spolan will be missing Yahoo’s national sales meeting, which is next week and where his latest boss, U.S. head Ross Levinsohn, will be selling the troops on the changes he will be making to revitalize the company’s advertising business.

Here’s the official press release:

LivingSocial Expands Executive Team Appointing Former Yahoo! Executive to Senior Vice President of National Sales

Local Commerce Leader Appoints Mitch Spolan to Build Out Team, Helping Merchants Nationwide Leverage the Powerful LivingSocial Platform

Washington D.C., March 8, 2011–LivingSocial, the online source for people to find handpicked experiences at a great value, today announces the continued expansion of its executive team with the appointment of Mitch Spolan to senior vice president of national sales. Spolan will lead development of LivingSocial’s national accounts and will expand the nationwide team to work with advertisers and marketers to better leverage LivingSocial’s powerful marketing platform. Additionally, he will focus on creating new opportunities to monetize LivingSocial’s assets through innovative, consumer-friendly advertising models.

“We are very excited to have Mitch join the senior executive team. Mitch’s extensive experience developing new online advertising opportunities and working with top marketers will help accelerate national brands’ adoption of the powerful LivingSocial platform,” said Eric Eichmann, chief operating officer of LivingSocial. “His hands-on approach, creativity and technological know-how will play an integral role in helping LivingSocial build upon its leadership position in the local commerce space. “

Spolan brings more than a decade of media sales experience to his position as LivingSocial’s senior vice president of national sales with the majority of his professional tenure residing with Yahoo!. Most recently he served as Yahoo!’s vice president of North American field sales, where he led his team to grow revenue and share with Fortune 500 clients by redefining creative opportunities. Spolan began his career as an architect and moonlighted as CEO of Innovation Solutions, an interactive advertising agency he founded specializing in creative design, media buying and planning for small businesses across the country.

“I’ve been following the group buying space from its beginning, both from an industry perspective and as a consumer myself. It’s rare that you get the opportunity to see a new industry born,” said Spolan. “LivingSocial has created a new medium where both marketers and consumers are big winners. I look forward to continuing to innovate on this incredibly powerful marketing platform as LivingSocial continues to dominate the local commerce space.”

Exclusive: Mickie Rosen to Join Yahoo as Audience Head

Kara Swisher — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:30:08 +0000

It’s not all departures!

Yahoo is hiring former News Corp. and Disney online exec Mickie Rosen (pictured here) to run its Audience unit, which includes the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s powerful content sites, sources said.

Starting next week, Rosen will report to Americas head Ross Levinsohn, who has worked with her before, at both News Corp. and Fuse Capital.

Her new title is SVP of the Yahoo Media Network, which is apparently a rebranding of Audience.

Previous to this job, Rosen was CEO of Tecca, a price-checking service Fuse created in partnership with Best Buy.

It’s likely she will remain based in the Los Angeles area, where Yahoo has a large office in Santa Monica, Calif.

The move is Levinsohn’s first management rejiggering since he took over last year, and there is likely to be more to come.

Rosen, who has also worked at the Fandango online movie ticketing site, will replace interim audience head Raymond Stern, who will be–as before–running partnerships and business development, as well as Yahoo’s listings business.

Rosen’s new job had actually been that of former Audience head David Ko, as well as former Media VP Jimmy Pitaro.

Ko left Yahoo and is now heading mobile games at Zynga, while Pitaro is a top digital exec at Disney.

More to come from Levinsohn, but here is Rosen’s bio from the Fuse Web site:

Mickie has over 20 years of operating, strategy and investing experience. For the past dozen years, she has been at the intersection of media and technology, in both large companies such as News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company and in small, early stage start-ups.

Prior to joining the firm, she was the head of entertainment for Fox Interactive Media where she was responsible for properties such as AmericanIdol.com, Rotten Tomatoes and the entertainment channels of MySpace. Mickie also led content acquisition across the Company, and was a lead in envisioning, structuring and negotiating Hulu, the premier video joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal.

Prior to Fox Interactive Media, Mickie was the head of product development, marketing and public relations for Fandango, where she helped lead the company from an early-stage start-up to profitability as it became a leader in its space (acquired by Comcast). Mickie was also a senior executive with an e-learning start-up, an Idealab! consumer robotics company and Disney’s Corporate Alliances group, where she negotiated deals and managed Disney’s top global partners such as Coca-Cola, American Express and AT&T.

Mickie built the foundation of her career with McKinsey & Company, where she spent seven years consulting with senior management on strategy, operational and organizational issues across a number of industries, including media and technology.
Mickie has an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.A. in Economics from UC San Diego, and is based in Los Angeles.

Yahoo's Display Ad VP & GM Departs–Meanwhile, Hair-tastic U.S. Head Reorgs Unit

Kara Swisher — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:35:15 +0000

David Zinman, Yahoo’s VP and GM for display advertising–who came to the company via its acquisition of BlueLithium ad network–is leaving the company and will be replaced by the CEO of Dapper, another ad-related Yahoo purchase.

Yahoo confirmed the move by Zinman (pictured here), after an inquiry by BoomTown, in a statement:

“David Zinman, Vice President & GM, Display Marketplace at Yahoo! has decided to leave the company, effective January 11. He’ll be working very closely with James Beriker, the former CEO of Dapper, who will take on David’s position, to ensure a smooth transition and build upon Yahoo!’s leadership position in display advertising.”

A source close to the company said the move was not part of a reorganization about to take place of the critical U.S. advertising unit by its new leader, Americas EVP Ross Levinsohn.

Levinsohn, who came to Yahoo in late fall, is now prepping a rejiggering of this management team, much as Chief Product Officer Blake Irving did soon after he arrived last April.

Unlike Irving’s, which included a number of significant exec departures, Levinsohn’s new structure is not expected to be as drastic, nor will it involve the massive layoffs that took place in the product unit in December.

Levinsohn, according to numerous sources inside the Silicon Valley company, seems to be off to a good start there, with many considering the fast-talking exec a “breath of fresh air.”

Or, perhaps, breath of hair.

Apropos of nothing, pretty much everyone I spoke to about his performance thus far comments on his very bouncy and behaving mane.

They are lovely locks, as I can attest, and as you can see here.

So, let’s hope Levinsohn can grow Yahoo’s stagnant revenue as well as he does his tresses.

Following Layoffs, Yahoo Cuts Products: MyBlogLog, Delicious, Yahoo! Buzz

Liz Gannes — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:58:59 +0000

At an all-hands meeting for the Yahoo product team following a round of layoffs yesterday that significantly impacted that group, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving showed off a slide of plans to “sunset” eight products and consolidate others.

Products on a list to be sunsetted–whatever that means–include MyBlogLog, Yahoo! Picks, AltaVista, Yahoo! Bookmarks, Yahoo! Buzz and Delicious. Some of those properties came from acquisitions and others were internally generated.

The news of the Yahoo plans first came out via a screenshot of the Webcast posted on Twitter by Eric Marcoullier that included a slide with a list of impacted products next to an image of Irving, along with EVP of the Americas Ross Levinsohn, announcing the news.

Marcoullier was founder of MyBlogLog, which created one of the products being shut down. (MyBlogLog was bought by Yahoo in 2007 and has been pretty much neglected ever since.)

The slide also shows plans to merge additional products, including Fire Eagle and Yahoo People Search, and make features out of many others, including Yahoo! Alerts and Yahoo! Calendar. (If you have better eyes than I do, please help identify some of those logos in the comments.)

Marcoullier is no longer at Yahoo, although the validity of his Webcast screenshot was confirmed, after he was quickly criticized on Twitter by various current Yahoo employees who didn’t appreciate it getting out, including Irving himself, who insinuated he would fire whoever leaked the Webcast. (Click on image here to enlarge.)

While the layoffs and shutdowns obviously indicate a de-emphasis of technology products by Yahoo, they aren’t necessarily unwarranted. Some of these products were the same as those mentioned on then-SVP Brad Garlinghouse’s infamous Peanut Butter Memo way back in 2006 as candidates for streamlining.

Update 12:21 p.m. PT: Yahoo’s statement on the matter just came through:

Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond. We continuously evaluate and prioritize our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months such as Yahoo! Buzz, our Traffic APIs, and others. We will communicate specific plans when appropriate.

In response to a follow-up question about Delicious, which seems to be the “sunsetted” product people are most upset about, the spokeswoman replied:

“We continue to operate Delicious today, and will communicate specific details when appropriate.”

Ross Levinsohn Says Hello on His First Day at School of Hard Knocks, Oops, Yahoo

Kara Swisher — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:40:21 +0000

Ross Levinsohn officially starts at Yahoo today, although he has already been busy machinating and taking meetings since he was appointed North American head recently.

The former News Corp. exec replaces Hilary Schneider, and enters a tumultuous job running Yahoo’s key media and advertising sales businesses.

BoomTown has yet another primer for him today, but first let’s hear from Ross in his first blog post for the Silicon Valley Internet giant, titled “Once in a lifetime opportunity”:

Today marks my first official day at Yahoo! and I am thrilled to be joining one of the world’s preeminent technology companies that operates the largest digital media, content, and communications business in the world. I am extremely passionate about digital media and as a longtime user and fan of Yahoo! I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this incredible company and amongst some of the best and brightest in the industry.

I truly believe that Yahoo! is one of the most compelling and dominant companies in the world. Having run digital companies big and small over the past 15 years, the task of building audience, engagement and revenue is no small feat. I feel fortunate to now be part of a company that not only has one or two category leaders, but operates the number one or two site in more than a dozen verticals. This is a feat unmatched in the industry, and provides unparalleled upside opportunities for all of us.

As I begin my own Yahoo! journey, I think it’s important to commit to each of you that one of my main goals is for the Americas team to be open and utterly approachable: I want to talk with you and understand your views of Yahoo! in order to make sure the Americas organization continues to win. I welcome all new ideas and I will act quickly to implement the right ideas for our business. Collectively we will continue to foster success for the company, each other, our partners and our customers with one goal–to deliver the absolute best consumer experience for Yahoo! users.

I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to be at the forefront of the digital media revolution. These types of opportunities rarely happen in one’s career. As I start at Yahoo! today, I feel like a new chapter has begun. Having the opportunity to work here and help shape the next phase of Yahoo! is easily the greatest opportunity of all in my career.

I came to Yahoo! to win and I’m ready to get started.

Ross Levinsohn, EVP, Americas Region

[UPDATE: Confirmed] Exclusive: Yahoo to Name Time Inc. Top Exec Powers as Head of U.S. Sales

Kara Swisher — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:18:00 +0000

Yahoo, in a quick move after the recent hiring of U.S. head Ross Levinsohn, will bring in Wayne Powers, who is currently president of Time Inc.’s Media Group, as head of North American advertising sales, according to sources.

[UPDATE: BoomTown has confirmed the appointment by nabbing the Yahoo press release below.]

It’s a big plus for CEO Carol Bartz, who had a very big hole in the middle of the key moneymaking organization at the Internet giant.

Double plus: As a longtime exec at the magazine unit of Time Warner, he is a known quantity in the sector (and, best of all, not from Bartz’s favored enterprise business!).

Way to scramble the jets, Carol!

Essentially, Powers replaces Joanne Bradford, who left in March for Demand Media.

Under a lot of pressure to name a sales leader, who will presumably report to Levinsohn, Yahoo had approached many top execs in the industry.

Levinsohn, by the way, starts Monday and could use the help!

That’s because a long stretch followed the high-profile Bradford’s departure, during which the job was split up among several of Yahoo’s top ad execs.

I have a call into Yahoo for comment, but it looks like a done deal.

(By the way, nice to meet you, Wayne! Please send me all internal memos asap–it’s how it is done at Yahoo. Go, Buckeyes!)

Here is the Yahoo press release on Powers’s hiring:

Yahoo! Appoints Wayne Powers to Head North American Advertising Sales

SUNNYVALE, Calif., November 9, 2010–Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) announced today that the company has appointed Wayne Powers as Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales for North America. Powers, who previously served as President of the Time Inc. Media Group, will report directly to incoming Executive Vice President of the Americas, Ross Levinsohn. Powers will be based in Yahoo!’s New York office.

“Wayne is a proven leader and innovator who will bring a wealth of operating expertise and advertiser relationships to Yahoo!,” said Levinsohn. “His record of brand building with advertisers and his focus on driving revenue through creative executions will serve both Yahoo! and Madison Avenue well.”

“Yahoo! is an innovative technology company operating the largest digital media, content and communications business in the world,” said Powers. “This is an irresistible opportunity to expand Yahoo’s industry leading position and drive revenue growth by leveraging its unique combination of science, art and scale.”

Since 2006, Powers has led Time, Inc.’s relationships with Fortune 500 advertisers, created and launched the Time Inc. Digital Network, and driven integrated sales across all Time, Inc. properties.

Previously, he served as President of Media Networks Inc. and Targeted Media at Time Inc., generating record growth at both companies through innovative advertising strategies, including the integration of new product launches across print, internet and mobile. Media Networks was one of the first integrated sales teams within Time Inc. and Powers led the successful launch of Time Inc.’s digital business.

Before joining Time Inc., Powers held several senior level sales executive positions in the consumer packaged goods industry with Nestle and Dole Packaged Foods. He is a graduate of Ohio State University with a BS in marketing.

And here’s his bio from Time’s Web site:

Wayne Powers

President, Time Inc. Media Group

Wayne Powers, who was named President of the Time Inc. Media Group in March, 2007, currently oversees all automotive, financial services, consumer electronics and technology clients for Time Inc.’s Corporate sales and Marketing. Powers and his team bring clients unrivaled marketing solutions that span print, digital, mobile, and events, all in the context of Time Inc.’s trusted brands, including Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, In Style, People, Real Simple, and Essence, among others.

Powers also oversees additional businesses for the company: Time Inc. Content Solutions, the company’s custom publishing arm; while Media Networks Inc.(MNI), and Targeted Media Inc. both specialize in targeted advertising and custom marketing solutions.

In 2007, Powers created the Time Inc. Digital Network, harnessing the collective power of the Time Inc. digital brands–for the first time, offering advertisers an opportunity to reach Time Inc.’s aggregated online audience that now tops 26 million unique users.

Previously, Powers served as President of Time Inc.’s MNI and Targeted Media. He joined Time Inc. in 1998 as Vice President of Sales at MNI, and led the sales staff to record-level success. After being named President of MNI in 2001, Powers was responsible for growing the company’s business across new media platforms and building its reputation as an innovative advertising solutions provider. In April 2006, he gained the additional responsibility of President of Targeted Media, Inc.

A graduate of Ohio State University, Powers began his career in the consumer packaged goods industry where he held key senior sales, trade marketing, and executive sales management positions.

The Top 10 List for New Yahoo U.S. Head Ross Levinsohn–the BoomTown Rules

Kara Swisher — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Dear Ross,

Perhaps more than anyone, BoomTown is thrilled to have you back in the Internet ops game, after several years on the sidelines.

Besides introducing an exciting new character and plotline into the daily digital drama set in Sunnyvale, Calif.–kind of like when one of Alexis Carrington’s ex-husbands returned after a bout with amnesia on “Dynasty”–it’s clear you are not going to be a shrinking violet.

Plus, you know how to handle drama after all those crazy years herding digital cats at News Corp.’s MySpace.

In other words: Nobody puts Ross in the corner!

But it’s a very big job you have, running both Yahoo’s massive media properties, as well as its giant sales organization–especially after all those years of long lunches as a venture investor.

Thus, I prepared a short list for you–kind of a Yahoo cheat sheet–to cut out and put in your cyber-wallet, and pull out if the need should arise:

10. If you have any internal emails, product roadmaps, acquisition plans and–especially–juicy memos, please immediately forward them to kara@allthingsd.com via the secret Gmail account every Yahoo staffer has. (Don’t worry, everyone does this! Really!)

9. If anyone offers you $31 a share for Yahoo, take it.

8. If someone asks you the question, “What is Yahoo?”: Run for the hills.

7. If anyone tries to drag you back to Sunnyvale from Los Angeles, resist, even after what happened to Lloyd Braun. There are no advertisers nor any significant digital media folks in Silicon Valley, however much anyone tells you there are.

6. If a billionaire shareholder activist named Carl whom you used to canoodle with about taking over Yahoo calls, please refer to No. 8.

5. If you can locate where Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has gotten to of late–he has been sighted at Yahoo “strategery” meetings and playing golf with advertisers–please send his coordinates to kara@allthingsd.com. I am not a stalker. Well, only a little bit.

4. If you have to ask who Judy is, you have already lost, because Judy is actually in charge at Yahoo. (By the way, since you are both from Jersey, work that angle hard!)

3. If a smiley, cheekboned, Don Draper-looking dude calls from AOL wanting to do a “reverse merger” and offers a ride on Air Tim to discuss it, please refer to No. 8.

2. If you feel frustrated and have the need to utter naughty words and curses, stifle it! That’s a job for the CEO!

1. Ignore me.*

* At your peril.

It's Now Official: Yahoo Hires Ross Levinsohn to Head Key Americas Unit

Kara Swisher — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 22:54:26 +0000

As BoomTown reported yesterday as likely, Yahoo has finally hired former News Corp. digital exec Ross Levinsohn.

He replaces Hilary Schneider as EVP of the Americas region, the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s most critical unit.

That means Levinsohn will be in charge of both Yahoo’s powerful media properties and also its massive advertising business.

Levinsohn will report directly to CEO Carol Bartz, but will not be primarily located at its Sunnyvale HQ. Instead, he will remain in Los Angeles and work out of the company’s offices in Santa Monica.

One bright note: Bartz has finally hired an exec on her own whose prime expertise is in digital media and not related to enterprise and software.

Giant sigh of relief from ATD HQ, since Levinsohn actually realizes that things need to move a lot faster inside the giant bubble of Yahoo.

Today’s hiring had a few snafus. Levinsohn’s plane to Silicon Valley from his home base in the southland was delayed and he could not sign his contract until just now.

In addition, there had been a number of outstanding negotiating issues that were just resolved earlier this afternoon.

Thus, Levinsohn just signed moments ago and here is the official press release from Yahoo:

Yahoo! Appoints Ross Levinsohn as Executive Vice President of Americas

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 27, 2010–Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) announced today that the company has appointed Ross Levinsohn as executive vice president of the Americas region. As one of the direct reports of CEO Carol Bartz, Levinsohn will join the executive staff of Yahoo! in November and will be responsible for the company’s media group, advertising sales, and partnerships for the Americas region.

“Ross has a phenomenal track record of executing digital media strategies that increase user engagement and, most importantly, accelerate topline growth,” said Bartz. “I am confident that Ross’s strategic vision, in addition to his deep industry experience, will allow us to solidify our position as the largest digital media, content and communications business around the globe.”

Levinsohn has long been on the forefront of digital media innovation. Prior to joining Yahoo!, he was the co-founder and managing director of Fuse Capital, an investment and strategic equity management firm focused on investing in and building digital media and communications companies. Levinsohn previously served as the president of News Corporation’s Fox Interactive Media, where he was responsible for running the day-to-day business, designing the overall strategy and leading investments that helped transform the company into a leader in digital media.

Levinsohn also held senior management positions with AltaVista, an early pioneer and leader in search, CBS Sportsline where he oversaw all content and development for the top rated sports site, and HBO where he launched and oversaw a unit developing new programming and revenue streams.

“Yahoo! is one of the premier Internet companies in the world,” said Levinsohn. “Having this opportunity to work with a group of immensely talented people to enhance Yahoo!’s leadership position is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”