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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer replaces Tim Morse with new CFOSUNNYVALE, Sep 25, 2012 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer replaced former interim CEO Tim Morse with a new chief financial officer Tuesday, after she reportedly unveiled her plans for the Internet giant to employees. Silicon Valley veteran Ken Goldman will take over the financial operations of the Sunnyvale company, Yahoo announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon, moving over from fellow Sunnyvale company Fortinet, where he also served as CFO. Before taking that post, Goldman was CFO at Siebel for six years, before the company was acquired by Redwood City software giant Oracle (ORCL). "Ken is one of the most accomplished and respected financial executives in the technology industry," Mayer said in Tuesday's news release. Goldman replaces Morse, who ran the company as interim CEO after Yahoo fired Carol Bartz in September 2011; when Yahoo hired PayPal President Scott Thompson to replace Bartz, Morse shifted back to the CFO chair. Morse will leave the company this fall after more than three years of employment, Yahoo announced. "Tim has been a trusted leader for Yahoo! over the past three years and has expertly guided the company through some key periods as well as our most important strategic deals," Mayer said. Mayer also reportedly hosted a streaming broadcast to Yahoo employees Tuesday in which she laid out her plans for the company. AllThingsD writer Kara Swisher reported earlier Tuesday that Mayer was planning to focus on a redesigned home page and improvements in email and search. Mayer took over Yahoo in July, shocking Silicon Valley by leaving Google (GOOG) -- where she was the first female engineer and employee No. 20 -- to take the top post at the Sunnyvale company that has struggled to retain influence amid the rise of her former employer as well as Facebook. Yahoo lost its longtime lead in display-advertising last year to Facebook, falling to third behind the Menlo Park social-networking company and Google. Yahoo has partnered with Microsoft on search and advertising in an effort to stay relevant while battling its Silicon Valley neighbors. While preparing her plans for the future, Mayer completed a deal with Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, in which Yahoo sold a majority of its 40 percent stake back to the company for $7.6 billion. After paying taxes, Yahoo will bring in about $4.3 billion, with about $3 billion being used to buy back shares from investors and the rest going into the corporate coffers. The deal was negotiated before Mayer came on board at the company, and in its most recent earnings report, Yahoo said she was reconsidering pushing the proceeds back to investors. In the end, though, she decided rewarding shareholders for sticking with Yahoo through tough times was a good use of the majority of the money. Yahoo shareholders have been agitating for change, noting that when then-CEO Jerry Yang in 2008 refused to sell the company to Microsoft for $47.5 billion, the stock was trading at $33 a share. Shares closed Tuesday at $15.68 after falling 2.1 percent. Yahoo declined to comment on Tuesday's reported announcement, with a spokeswoman saying in an email, "We will have more to share about our approach to building Yahoo's future at our next earnings call, which is in mid-October." At Google, Mayer led the development of the Mountain View company's image and product search functions, helped oversee its iconic homepage and was the gatekeeper for new offerings such as Gmail. At the time of her hire, Yahoo said in a news release that Mayer as CEO "signals a renewed focus on product innovation" and advertising revenue. Mayer, 37, was a surprise choice over then-interim CEO Ross Levinsohn, a media-focused executive who took over for Thompson, ousted after less than six months because he claimed a false computer-science degree on official Yahoo filings. Thompson was the permanent replacement for Bartz, who was fired after less than three years on the job during which she was unable to reverse Yahoo's decline. Yahoo paid richly to install Mayer in the captain's seat, guaranteeing her total compensation for 2012 of $56 million in stock and options, $1 million in salary and a $2 million bonus, according to Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. Mayer's net worth has been estimated at $300 million. She is married to tech investor Zack Bogue, and is expecting her first child. She serves on the board of Wal-Mart Stores, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the New York City Ballet. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak. ___ (c)2012 the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |