PayPal's Scott Thompson to lead Yahoo!

David Heath
Thursday, 05 January 2012 10:20

IT Industry - Listed Tech

After a four month search, Yahoo has finally announced their new CEO.

Following the sacking of Carol Bartz in September, Yahoo! has been conducting a wide-ranging search for a replacement CEO.  In the interim, CFO Tim Morse has been acting as CEO.

In a media conference call yesterday, Yahoo!'s Chairman of the Board Roy Bostock announced the appointment of current PayPal president Scott Thompson as the new CEO, effective Monday 9th January; Thompson will also take a seat on the board.  Tim Morse will return to his former role.

"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," said Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, in a statement. "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."

"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," 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."