Yahoo! president announces radical revamp of struggling internet giant as CEO Jerry Yang looks to take secondary role…
San Francisco — Newly elevated Yahoo! President Susan Decker, has stamped her authority on the struggling internet group, and issued a memo to employees detailing another massive organization for her company, which merges sales into a broader division seeking new partnership deals such as ones it has struck with eBay, Comcast and newspaper publishers — that will generate the lion’s share of revenue and will be headed by a close ally…
“Gone is the executive said to have spearheaded the takeover of ad market broker Right Media last April, and the fate of one of the company’s most outspoken senior VPs appears uncertain.”
Gregory Coleman, the company’s executive vice president of global sales, is leaving Yahoo “to pursue other opportunities” Decker said in a memo sent to employees late on Wednesday. Coleman will play a transitional role until February of 2008.
Coleman’s departure comes less than three months after Yahoo, owner of the most-visited U.S. Web site, brought back co-founder Jerry Yang as chief executive officer to replace Terry Semel, as the Sunnyvale, Calif., company grapples with changes to the online advertising market and tries to retool itself under new Chief Executive Yang to better compete with rivals including Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Yahoo’s share of the Internet search ad market has declined, and the company faces new competitors, such as social-networking site Facebook Inc., for display ads.
In July, Yang said he would deliver a new strategic plan for the company within 100 days that will help the company respond to rapid changes in consumer behavior on the Web and competition from rival Google Inc, the top provider of search advertising.
Hilary Schneider, Yahoo’s executive vice president of local markets and commerce, will take on his responsibilities in a new division called “Global Partner Solutions,” according to an e-mail sent yesterday from Decker to employees.
The new Global Partner Division will include Yahoo!’s sales operations and will oversee all advertising business – including search, display, mobile and video. It will also take “responsibility for all of our ‘partners’ – advertisers, agencies, resellers, publishers, ad networks, developers, or others,” Decker wrote in a memo to staff.
Coleman’s planned resignation follows the June departure of Yahoo’s chief sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard, for a top role at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. Both executives have long track records working with Madison Avenue agencies and brand advertisers. Decker’s memo to staff said that Coleman’s planned departure was “mutually agreed” upon. Coleman was not immediately available to comment.
In the memo, Decker said the reorganization will allow Yahoo to strike up relationships with other Web site publishers to give Yahoo a far wider range of advertising inventory to sell to advertisers, ad networks and advertising agencies.
“We will be able to much more quickly identify and secure the ad inventory that best meets our advertisers’ objectives,” she said.
Yahoo! recently signed deals with eBay, Comcast and a host of US local newspaper websites to supply adverts to their sites. Schneider, who spearheaded the newspaper deal, will be charged with forging further similar agreements. Reporting to Decker, she will be in charge of advertising sales, Yahoo’s publisher network, corporate partnerships and the company’s job recruitment service HotJobs, Decker said in the employee memo.
Decker also argued that the new structure would make Yahoo! more nimble in serving ads on outside sites. “We will be able to much more quickly identify and secure the ad inventory that best meets our advertisers’ objectives,” she said.
Yahoo! has also employed Stone Yamashitu Partners, a consultancy noted for helping technology companies to refine their business models. “Basically, they help you decide what kind of business you really want to be, something Yahoo! has struggled with,” one technology consultant said.
Beyond efforts to strike more partnerships with large customers, the Global Partner Solutions unit will be in charge of sales of all advertising formats, including search, corporate brand display, video, mobile, paid listings, etc.
It will also serve customers of all sizes, including marketing to small business customers, the memo described.
Business development deals for Yahoo’s content division — properties that range from music to news to sports to finance — and its mobile business unit will continue to operate separately, according to Decker.
Prior to joining Yahoo last year, Schneider was a senior vice president for media company Knight Ridder, where she co-managed the newspaper operations and led its online division.
Yahoo also said Executive Vice President Jeff Weiner, who oversees the network division, will assume control of the local markets and commerce unit, excluding the HotJobs site, which will be led by Schneider. Weiner reports to Decker.
However, Decker acknowledged that Yahoo! had seen a disquieting churn of senior staff in recent months, most recently when the company’s chief sales officer, Wenda Harris Millard, departed in June.
“I know there have been many changes at Yahoo! over the last few months, and I know that change is not always easy,” Decker said in the staff memo.
Coleman, a 25-year-veteran of the media and publishing industries, joined Yahoo in 2001 from Readers Digest Association Inc., where he was president of the U.S. magazine publishing unit, oversaw the expansion of Yahoo’s online advertising sales into a $6 billion business from a $600 million one when he started earlier this decade.
He is leaving to pursue other opportunities and will stay with the company through February, the statement said.
In her memo to staff, Decker said the organizational changes “would help us achieve our goals to better serve our customers, accelerate the speed of making fast, smart decisions, and create cleaner lines of accountability across key leaders.”
“I am confident that we are putting the right people in the right positions to focus on the right opportunities.”