Yahoo! appoints PayPal boss Scott Thompson as CEO
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Yahoo! has appointed president of PayPal Scott Thompson as its CEO to try to restore the “momentum” needed for the business to return to growth.
Thomspon replaces Carol Bartz, who was ousted from the company in September after failing to revive revenues to their peaks of the mid 00s.
Also a board member, Thompson will oversee Yahoo!’s ongoing strategic review to assess whether the company should dispose of assets or make further investments in order to increase revenues and appease shareholders.
He will also be charged with ensuring Yahoo! fully serves the needs of advertisers and publishers, and he will work alongside the product teams to assess the areas of its portfolio that attract the best user engagement.
Roy Bostock, Yahoo! chairman, says: “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.”
Under Thompson’s three year leadership at eBay’s payment unit, PayPal has expanded its userbase from 50 million to 104 million worldwide and has grown revenues from $1.8bn to $4bn in 2011.
Prior to PayPal, Thompson was head of technology solutions at Visa subsidiary Inovant. He also served as chief information officer at Barclays Global Investors.
Tim Morse, Yahoo!’s acting CEO since Bartz’s departure, will return to his role as chief financial officer once Thompson starts.
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Readers' comments (2)
Jill Kennedy | Wed, 4 Jan 2012 6:29 pm
Seems like a fairly solid pick. I don't know that you can turn that brand around. It's fine just as it is - it just doesn't really have much potential for growth. I say take it private, be content with OK profits and be done with it. I see that Carol Bartz has also received a job offer... from Manka Bros.
http://mankabros.com/blogs/chairman/2011/09/08/manka-bros-would-like-to-offer-carol-bartz-a-job/
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Azzam Sheikh | Thu, 5 Jan 2012 1:38 pm
This is major news.
Yahoo has been seen some good traction with frictionless sharing on Facebook and therefore there is potential for growth.
But it is not just about growth but innovation to keep people coming back again and again which other platforms are doing
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