Former PayPal President Scott Thompson has been named the new CEO of Yahoo
Former PayPal President Scott Thompson has been named the new CEO of Yahoo, the company announced today. Things at Yahoo have not been going so well lately and decisions have been flying left and right in 2011. Long standing CEO Carol Bartz was ousted in September after the board members decided she wasn’t making things move forward at Yahoo fast enough…. Or at all. Yahoo CFO Tim Morse has been acting as interim CEO since September and working with the executive team looking for a replacement.
When Scott Thompson first landed the position of President at PayPal, he pushed the company from an electronic payments startup to an industry leader. He will have much to work on and fast if he will save Yahoo from being divided. Hiring Thompson in itself could signify Yahoo might not be ready to split off Yahoo and sell it in pieces. Yahoo indicated it was interested in selling off its Asian assets last week, back to their majority owners in a transaction valued around $17 billion. Spike up the stock much?
Here is Yahoo’s official announcement :
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer, effective January 9, 2012 , at which time Tim Morse will resume his role as Chief Financial Officer. Thompson has also been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective January 9, 2012.
Thompson served most recently as President of PayPal, a division of eBay, where he continued his established track record of growing businesses by driving customer engagement built on strong technology platforms. Under his leadership, PayPal solidified its lead as the global online payment service, expanding its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million active users in 190 countries worldwide, increasing the number of merchant partners to more than 8 million globally, and growing revenues from $1.8 billion to $4+ billion in 2011.
“Scott brings to Yahoo! a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo!,” said Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board. “His deep understanding of online businesses combined with his team building and operational capabilities will restore the energy, focus, and momentum necessary to grow the core business and deliver increased value for our shareholders. The search committee and the entire Board concluded that he is the right leader to return the core business to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation.”
“Yahoo! is an industry icon and I am very excited about the prospect of working with one of the great teams in the online world to deliver Yahoo!’s next era of success,” Mr. Thompson said. “Yahoo! has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm. With the ultimate goal of delivering the value our shareholders expect, my immediate focus will be on getting to know the entire team and hearing more from all Yahoo!s, working closely with the engineers and product teams, and diving deeply into our products and services to learn more about what our more than 700 million users find most engaging and useful. I will also be working directly with our region leaders and sales teams globally to get a clearer understanding of the needs of our advertisers and publishers. Clearly, speed is important but we will attack both the opportunity ahead and the competitive challenges with an appropriate balance of urgency and thoughtfulness. I cannot wait to get started.”
“Scott’s primary focus will be on the core business, and as CEO and director, he will work closely with the Board as we continue the strategic review process to identify the best approaches for the Company and its shareholders. As part of this process, Yahoo! is considering a wide range of opportunities for the Company’s business, as well as specific investments or dispositions of assets,” added Bostock.
“We are all grateful to Tim Morse for leading the company with a steady hand during the last several months. His deep understanding of the Company and his positive approach kept the company on course and we will continue to benefit from his exceptional capabilities as he returns to his Chief Financial Officer role,” Bostock concluded.
Scott Thompson Biographical Information
Scott Thompson has a record of deep industry experience, having most recently served as President of PayPal with overall responsibility for establishing that company as the leading global online payment service. He previously served as PayPal’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to PayPal, Mr. Thompson was Executive Vice President of technology solutions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organization. Thompson was also Chief Information Officer of Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure. In addition, he worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
Yahoo! will host a conference call to discuss today’s announcement at 10 a.m. Eastern Time today. A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed through the Company’s Investor Relations website at http://investor.yahoo.net/. The dial-in number for the live conference call is (877) 218-7860. Participants calling from outside the United States may dial (857) 244-7400. The passcode 60719359# is required to access the call. In addition, an archive of the webcast can be accessed through the same link. An audio replay of the call will be available for one week following the conference call by calling (888) 286-8010 or (617) 801-6888, passcode: 53109628
Erick
