New York: More than three months after sacking its CEO, Internet giant Yahoo Inc on Wednesday appointed Scott Thompson, who runs eBay`s online payment unit PayPal, as the new Chief Executive Officer.
Yahoo, which is battling stiff competition and falling market share, sacked its CEO Carol Bartz in September, 2011. Since then, Yahoo is being run by Tim Morse on an interim basis, who is also the company`s CFO.
Thompson has also been named on the company`s Board of Directors. The appointment would be effective from January 9, 2012, Yahoo said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Yahoo said it is considering a wide range of opportunities for the company`s business, as well as specific investments or dispositions of assets.
Commenting on the appointment Roy Bostock, Chairman at Yahoo Board said, "Scott brings to Yahoo a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo.
"... The search committee and the entire Board concluded that he is the right leader to return the core business to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation," Bostock added.
The company said Scott`s primary focus would be on the core business. He would work closely with the Board as Yahoo continues the strategic review process to identify the best approaches for the company and its shareholders.
"Yahoo is considering a wide range of opportunities for the company`s business, as well as specific investments or dispositions of assets," Bostock said.
Thompson became president of PayPal in early 2008, after serving as its CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in charge of IT, product development and architecture.
Under his leadership, PayPal solidified its lead as the global online payment service, expanding its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million active users in 190 countries worldwide and growing revenues from USD 1.8 billion to over USD 4 billion in 2011.
Before eBay, he worked at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organisation. He was also CIO of Barclays Global Investors and has worked at Coopers and Lybrand on information technology.
"Yahoo is an industry icon and I am very excited about the prospect of working with one of the great teams in the online world to deliver Yahoo`s next era of success," Thompson said.
After Bartz`s ouster, Yahoo was believed to be looking at a range of strategic options, including the possible sale of all or part of the company.
In September, an internal memo sent by Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock and co-founders David Filo and Jerry Yang to their employees had sparked rumours about a possible sale of the Internet company.
In the memo, Yahoo said that a "strategic review" process was on to bring the company back to robust growth path and multiple parties have "expressed interest in a number of potential options."
PTI
