The recruitment of Michael Barrett, a veteran online advertising industry executive, comes as new chief executive Ross Levinsohn seeks to bring stable management back to the company after the hiring and firing this year of former CEO Scott Thompson, who was forced out over an exaggerated claim about his educational accomplishments.
In his last position Mr Barrett headed Admeld, a four-year-old online advertising start-up that was acquired by Google late last year. Admeld was created to help publishers sell their excess online inventory through an automated system in which advertisers bid for space – a business that Yahoo itself entered with the purchase several years ago of online ad exchange Right Media.
Mr Barrett had worked previously with Mr Levinsohn at New Corp’s internet operations, where he was chief revenue officer at Fox Interactive Media, with responsibility for advertising on MySpace and FoxSports.com. He left that position after MySpace’s advertising business failed to live up to the high hopes from the social network’s early success.
The hiring of a chief revenue officer is a key move for Mr Levinsohn as he seeks to revive Yahoo’s growth after several years in which it has lost ground to Google and Facebook. Before being pushed out, Mr Thompson had made a return to growth the key element of his own plan for Yahoo, arguing that the company needed to find new revenue streams to complement its traditional advertising business.
The appointment of an executive with deep experience in advertising indicates that Mr Levinsohn believes that the biggest opportunity for Yahoo lies in fixing its core operations before looking further afield for new business, according to a person familiar with the company.
Yahoo’s display advertising revenues fell by 2 per cent in the first quarter of this year after remaining flat in 2011, adding to the urgency to rekindle growth after a long period of cost-cutting. Mr Barrett also faces the challenge of boosting Yahoo’s search advertising revenues in the wake of an outsourcing deal with Microsoft that has failed to live up to the company’s hopes.
A former at AOL, he had been working on combining Admeld with Google’s other advertising operations and hadn’t taken on a permanent position with the search company since the acquisition.
Yahoo has added a key executive to the latest management team to try to revive the US internet company, with the appointment of a chief revenue officer.
The recruitment of Michael Barrett, a veteran online advertising industry executive, comes as new chief executive Ross Levinsohn seeks to bring stable management back to the company after the hiring and firing this year of former CEO Scott Thompson, who was forced out over an exaggerated claim about his educational accomplishments.
In his last position Mr Barrett headed Admeld, a four-year-old online advertising start-up that was acquired by Google late last year. Admeld was created to help publishers sell their excess online inventory through an automated system in which advertisers bid for space – a business that Yahoo itself entered with the purchase several years ago of online ad exchange Right Media.
Mr Barrett had worked previously with Mr Levinsohn at New Corp’s internet operations, where he was chief revenue officer at Fox Interactive Media, with responsibility for advertising on MySpace and FoxSports.com. He left that position after MySpace’s advertising business failed to live up to the high hopes from the social network’s early success.
The hiring of a chief revenue officer is a key move for Mr Levinsohn as he seeks to revive Yahoo’s growth after several years in which it has lost ground to Google and Facebook. Before being pushed out, Mr Thompson had made a return to growth the key element of his own plan for Yahoo, arguing that the company needed to find new revenue streams to complement its traditional advertising business.
The appointment of an executive with deep experience in advertising indicates that Mr Levinsohn believes that the biggest opportunity for Yahoo lies in fixing its core operations before looking further afield for new business, according to a person familiar with the company.
Yahoo’s display advertising revenues fell by 2 per cent in the first quarter of this year after remaining flat in 2011, adding to the urgency to rekindle growth after a long period of cost-cutting. Mr Barrett also faces the challenge of boosting Yahoo’s search advertising revenues in the wake of an outsourcing deal with Microsoft that has failed to live up to the company’s hopes.A former at AOL, he had been working on combining Admeld with Google’s other advertising operations and hadn’t taken on a permanent position with the search company since the acquisition.
More News From Financial Times
Brics to create financial safety net
Insurance ban hits Iranian oil sales
Obama and Putin call for end to Syria violence
Nigeria faces $4bn fuel subsidy gap
Index shrugs off European tech fears
