10e20 Blog

In a move to become a nimbler, more Google-like company, Yahoo Inc. today announced the departure of Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo’s chief operating officer and also the resignation of Lloyd Braun, the former ABC executive who ran Yahoo’s media group in Santa Monica, Calif. According to the Wall Street Journal, the executive shuffling awards a key expanded role to its Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker who assumes oversight of revenue-generating activities, including its online advertising sales teams.

The changes follow concerns within the company’s ranks about its strategy, including a memo distributed internally by senior vice president (and their very own Jerry Maguire) Brad Garlinghouse dubbed The Peanut Butter Manifesto. Garlinghouse stated that Yahoo lacked a “focused, cohesive vision” and that Yahoo’s be everything to everyone strategy was like “spreading peanut butter across the myriad opportunities that continue to evolve in the online world”.

According to the NY Times - under the new plan, Yahoo will reorganize itself into three operating units, including one focused on its audience and one on its advertisers and publishers. A third unit, focused on technology, will develop products serving the entire organization.

Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel will remain as the company’s chairman and chief executive. “There is no question, our new structure will increase accountability, will reduce bottlenecks and speed decision making,” Semel, said in an interview.