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June 15, 2009 Tim Morse Appointed Yahoo CFO Yahoo's Board of Directors has appointed Tim Morse as the company's new chief financial officer. Reporting directly to CEO Carol Bartz, Morse will be responsible for the company's finance, investor relations, and mergers and acquisitions groups. He will start work at Yahoo on June 17, 2009 and will assume the responsibilities of CFO on July 1, 2009. "Tim has a proven ability to translate strategy into structure, process, and execution, and I am delighted that he will be joining my leadership team to help drive Yahoo's growth," said Bartz. "With his passion for operational finance, global experience, and expertise simplifying complex organizations and managing growth, Tim is a natural fit for Yahoo." Morse has financial experience in both large and small organizations, managing in complex, fast-paced environments and establishing scalable, cost-effective processes and controls. Prior to joining Yahoo, he was the CFO of Altera Corporation, a semiconductor company specializing in programmable logic devices for communications, industrial, and consumer applications. Morse previously served as the CFO and general manager of business development for General Electric Plastics. A 15 year veteran of GE, he also held a variety of positions at GE Plastics, GE Appliances and GE Capital in North America, Europe and Asia. "Yahoo is an amazing brand with a unique combination of assets, and I am extremely excited to be joining a finance team with a deep commitment to financial excellence and fiscal discipline," said Morse. "I look forward to working with the entire leadership team to continue to focus on driving results and creating value for our shareholders." June 9, 2009 Eric Brown Named Yahoo Communications Chief Yahoo announced that Eric Channing Brown has been appointed senior vice president of global communications. Brown will direct the company's global communication efforts, overseeing functions that include public relations, executive communications, product promotion, public affairs, internal communications, corporate reputation management, as well as social media outreach. Brown will join the company in early July and report to Yahoo's chief marketing officer, Elisa Steele. Prior to joining Yahoo, Brown was vice president of corporate relations at NetApp, driving global communications strategies that spanned more than 30 countries. He was responsible for media relations, social media, internal communications and executive communications. Brown was integral to NetApp's recent rebranding campaign as well as instrumental to the communications program behind the company's recognition by Fortune magazine as the "Best Company to Work for in America" in 2009. Before joining NetApp, Brown was head of public relations for Adaptec and oversaw their B2B communications strategy, as well as brand and consumer public relations for the company's retail products. He has also held additional leadership positions in both corporate and agency environments. "This is such a pivotal time to join Yahoo and I look forward to being a part of the team that helps the company reassert its brand relevance globally," said Brown. "Yahoo has an amazing combination of assets and I am excited to work with the talented communications team to tell the Yahoo story around the globe." Brown holds a B.A. in English with high honors from the College of William and Mary. April 22, 2009 Yahoo to Cut 5% of Workforce Yahoo announced that it will cut 5% of its workforce or up to 700 positions. The cuts are the second round in six months after the company eliminated 1,500 jobs in October. The majority of impacted employees are expected to be notified within the next two weeks. The Company said it is also continuing to implement non-headcount cost reductions. The company reported revenues of $1.58 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a decrease of 13 percent from the first quarter of 2008. Net income was $537 million for the quarter. "Yahoo is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but careful cost management in the first quarter allowed our operating cash flow to come in near the high end of our outlook range," said chief executive officer Carol Bartz. "While we experienced pressure in both display and search advertising in the first quarter, we believe Yahoo remains one of the most compelling advertising buys on the Internet. With our leading audience properties, substantial reach and innovative advertising solutions, we are confident Yahoo! will be well positioned when online brand advertising resumes its growth." March 25, 2009 Steele Named Chief Marketing Officer Yahoo announced that Elisa Steele has joined the company as chief marketing officer. Steele is responsible for Yahoo's brand, its global marketing strategy and its marketing functions including brand marketing, audience marketing, corporate communications, insights, policy and privacy, community affairs, and related central teams. She reports to Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. "The Yahoo! brand is one of our most valuable and strategic assets, and Elisa is charged with unlocking its potential globally. Elisa has an outstanding track record in leading global marketing, branding, and communications teams, and we're excited to welcome her to Yahoo's executive staff," said Bartz. "Yahoo's marketing strategy and teams have become decentralized over time -- hiring Elisa in the CMO role will quickly mobilize our plan to integrate the function globally and more effectively represent the Yahoo! brand." Prior to joining Yahoo, Steele was senior vice president of corporate marketing at NetApp, where she led the company's global brand strategy including global communications, corporate relations, and integrated marketing functions. Her work at NetApp included strategically repositioning the brand in the category and a major global relaunch. "I'm excited to join the team and help unleash the incredible power of the Yahoo brand," said Steele. "I look forward to working closely with Carol and the entire organization to help renew the company's focus on its customers and to reassert the brand's relevance around the world." Steele holds a master of business administration degree from San Francisco State University and a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of New Hampshire. February 27, 2009 Yahoo Shakes Up Management Yahoo's new CEO Carol Bartz annnounced management changes for the company. CFO Blake Jorgensen is leaving the company once a replacement is found. According to SF Chronicle, Yahoo's technology and products groups will be combined under Ari Balogh, the company's chief technology officer. Geographically, Yahoo will streamline its operations into two regions, North America, led by Hilary Schneider, and international, under an executive who has yet to be named. Marco Boerries, who led Yahoo's mobile unit, has resigned. February 24, 2009 Yahoo Exec Leaves for Hearst Neeraj Khemlani, 38, Vice President for News and Information at Yahoo, is leaving the Internet company and will join the Hearst Corporation in New York in the new position of vice president and special assistant to the CEO for digital media, Hearst Corporation. He will start on March 23 according to Associated Press. Khemlani's job will be to promote and coordinate digital content at Hearst. At Yahoo, Khemlani managed the business and products of news, tech, weather and education. He also was the executive editor of Yahoo Finance. From 1998 to 2006, Khemlani was a producer for CBS News’ 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II, and a creative consultant to Imagine Entertainment, ABC Entertainment, from 2000 to 2001, where he advised scriptwriters. His television experience also includes producer positions with Crile Communications and ABC News, where he produced segments for Nightline, Good Morning America, Peter Jennings Reporting and ABC News Specials. Khemlani began his career as a newspaper reporter, stringing for The New York Times and The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y. “I am delighted to join Hearst Corporation,” Khemlani said. “We are witnessing the reemergence of content and media driving value in the new world and Hearst is uniquely positioned to realize that value across multiple digital platforms and distribution points. Remember, we're only in the second inning of the Internet. Hearst, with all its assets and investments, expects to take a commanding lead by the seventh-inning stretch." Khemlani is a graduate of Cornell University and was editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun. January 28, 2009 Yahoo Releases 2008 Earnings Yahoo reported results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2008. "Despite the challenging economic environment, Yahoo delivered adjusted operating cash flow above the midpoint of guidance for the fourth quarter," said new Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz. "The company also made important investments while aggressively managing costs, leaving us better positioned to weather the economic downturn and emerge stronger when advertiser spending improves. We have work to do, but I am excited by Yahoo’s opportunities, and encouraged by the tremendous innovation and momentum I’ve seen since joining the company as CEO.” Revenues were $1.806 billion for the fourth quarter of 2008, a 1 percent decrease compared to $1.832 billion for the same period of 2007. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2008 was $303 million. Revenues were $7.209 billion for all of 2008, a 3 percent increase compared to $6.969 billion for 2007. Net income for 2008 was $424 million compared to $660 million in 2007. The company also instituted a hiring freeze for all employees this year. January 13, 2009 Carol Bartz Named Yahoo CEO Yahoo announced today that Carol Bartz, a veteran technology executive who was most recently Executive Chairman of Autodesk, has been named Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Prior to becoming Executive Chairman of Autodesk in 2006, Bartz, 60, led Autodesk as CEO for 14 years, transforming the company into a leader in computer-aided design software. During her tenure as CEO, revenues increased from less than $300 million to more than $1.5 billion, and the company's share price increased nearly ten-fold. In addition to turning around Autodesk, Bartz's extensive executive experience includes hands-on responsibility for leading global operations, engineering, sales and marketing organizations for large technology and engineering companies including Sun Microsystems, Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M. Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Board, said, "We are very excited to have Carol Bartz leading Yahoo into its next era of growth. She is the exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that the Board was looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a world-class talent to Yahoo. She is admired in the Valley as well as on Wall Street for her deep management expertise, strong customer orientation, excellent people skills, and firm understanding of the challenges facing our industry. Carol meets all of the criteria we set for the search and is the only person to whom we offered the job. The Board is united in its view that her energetic and decisive leadership style, coupled with a proven track record of driving growth, operational excellence and shareholder value, is exactly what Yahoo needs to get back on a path toward achieving its full potential." Jerry Yang, former CEO and co-founder of Yahoo, said, "I couldn't be more pleased with the Board's choice of Carol Bartz as CEO and look forward to returning to my former role as Chief Yahoo. I believe Carol is the ideal person to take Yahoo forward and I will be honored to be a resource to assist her in any way she finds helpful. I believe Yahoo's best years are still ahead of it. For the past 14 years, I have poured all of my energies into this great company -- and I hope to keep contributing to its success for many years to come." With the hiring of Bartz as CEO, President Susan Decker is leaving Yahoo. She had also been under consideration for the top job. December 22, 2008 Yahoo Changes Data Retention Policy Yahoo announced a new global data retention policy that sets an industry-leading approach to user data privacy. Under the new policy, Yahoo will anonymize user log data within 90 days with limited exceptions for fraud, security and legal obligations. Yahoo will also expand the policy to apply not only to search log data but also page views, page clicks, ad views and ad clicks. "In our world of customized online services, responsible use of data is critical to establishing and maintaining user trust," said Anne Toth, Yahoo!'s Vice President of Policy and Head of Privacy. "We know that our users expect relevant and compelling content and advertising when they visit Yahoo, but they also want assurances that we are focused on protecting their privacy." Fueled by a focus on consumer privacy, regulators, legislators and advocates from around the globe have asked the industry to examine data policies with a focus on retention periods. Yahoo conducted a comprehensive review of its data practices across the globe. The heads of business and engineering units worked with privacy and data governance teams to thoroughly review data needs for global products and services, striving to ensure that Yahoo! retains data only long enough to serve our business and create the highest quality user experiences while maintaining the ability to fight fraud, secure systems, and meet legal obligations. November 18, 2008 Yang Out as Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down as CEO of the company he founded after urging from the company's Board of Directors. Yang, 40, co-founded Yahoo and assumed the CEO role at the Board's request in June 2007. In just over one year, Yang has had a tumultuous reign at the company including a failed acquisition by Microsoft which offered $33 a share to buy the company. Yang held out for more money until Microsoft dropped its bid altogether. Since then, the economy and stock market have tanked. Shares in Yahoo now trade at above $12 and Google called off a deal to provide advertising listings on Yahoo this month due to anti-trust issues. Yang still held out hope that Microsoft would come in to buy the company this month but CEO Steve Ballmer flatly denied any acquisition talks. Yahoo also announced last month it would cut 10% of its workforce or about 1,500 jobs to save money. "Over the past year and a half, despite extraordinary challenges and distractions, Jerry Yang has led the repositioning of Yahoo on an open platform model as well as the improved alignment of costs and revenues," said Chairman Roy Bostock. "Jerry and the Board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level. We are deeply grateful to Jerry for his many contributions as CEO over the past 18 months, and we are pleased that he plans to stay actively involved at Yahoo as a key executive and member of the Board." "From founding this company to guiding its growth into a trusted global brand that is indispensible to millions of people, I have always sought to do what is best for our franchise," said Jerry Yang. "When the Board asked me to become CEO and lead the transformation of the Company, I did so because it was important to re-envision the business for a different era to drive more effective growth. Having set Yahoo on a new, more open path, the time is right for me to transition the CEO role and our global talent to a new leader. I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation." October 26, 2008 Yahoo to Build Data Center in Nebraska Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and corporate officials announced that Yahoo has selected Nebraska as the home of two new developments. A 150,000 square ft. Yahoo Data Center will be located in LaVista. A Yahoo Customer Care Center will be located in Omaha. “I am excited to welcome Yahoo! to Nebraska,” Gov. Heineman said. “These two projects present an extraordinary opportunity for Nebraska. It leaves no doubt that Nebraska can successfully compete for technology jobs.” Kevin Timmons, vice president of operations for Yahoo, said, “We’re very pleased to be partnering with the state of Nebraska to build this new data center. Yahoo builds and operates some of the industry’s most efficient data centers and the expansion of our operations with this new facility will help Yahoo to better serve our worldwide audience of 500 million users.” Yahoo is receiving $100 million in incentives from the state and will need to create at least 100 jobs with a minimum salary of $68,700 if it goes through with the project. Several hundred construction jobs will also be created. October 22, 2008 Yahoo Lays Off 10% of Workforce Yahoo reported revenues of $1.78 billion in the third quarter and net income of $54 million. The search engine said it would cut at least 10% of its workforce by the end of the year to reduce costs with more cost-cutting measures possible over the next year. The company has 15,000 employees and job cuts have been rumored over the past few months. "An increasingly challenging economic climate and softening advertising demand contributed to revenues this quarter coming in at the low end of our outlook range. While we are disappointed with our results, we're pleased that we continue to benefit from the aggressive cost management efforts we have pursued during the year. These efforts helped our adjusted operating cash flow come in above the midpoint of our outlook range for the quarter, despite significant investments in our strategic objectives," said Blake Jorgensen, chief financial officer, Yahoo! Inc. "We have the balance sheet strength, liquidity, and free cash flow we need to continue to make progress on our core strategies as we address this slowdown." September 29, 2008 Yahoo has introduced its long-awaited ad software called APT which lets publishers manage their advertising on Yahoo and with outside networks. Formerly known as AMP, APT from Yahoo is an online media, digital advertising solution that streamlines the process of planning, buying and optimizing display advertising. APT is designed to simplify the process of buying and selling ads online while connecting all the market players -- publishers, advertisers, agencies, networks, partners and developers -- from a unified platform to do business more efficiently and effectively. The platform is rolling out as planned in phases beginning with publishers the San Francisco Chronicle of Hearst Newspapers and San Jose Mercury News of MediaNews Group. As a Web-based solution with the potential to allow unprecedented ease of cross-selling across the largest open network of publishers, advertisers, ad networks and agencies from a single integrated interface, APT is a single platform for connected digital advertising, including ad serving, ad network and ad exchange. It is designed to streamline advertisers' ad-buying process for multiple accounts across multiple publishers, and enable creative testing and campaign optimization. It is also intended to help advertisers precisely yet easily identify audiences through geographic, demographic and interest-based targeting while enabling publishers to better monetize their content as well as making better connections across the Web. "One of the major benefits of APT from Yahoo! is the fact that it's an open system, designed to enable advertisers to reach their audiences in their favorite places across the Web, and publishers to monetize inventory across the broadest possible demand channels," said Sue Decker. "As we transform the advertising marketplace, we're excited to have key members of the Newspaper Consortium, the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News, lead the way in this historic journey." September 8, 2008 Verizon Communications and Yahoo announced a new multiyear agreement to provide an integrated, co-branded Verizon-Yahoo portal as a preferred starting point for new Verizon broadband subscribers. This new agreement extends the relationship between Yahoo and Verizon that began in 2005. Under the terms of the new agreement, the customizable Verizon-Yahoo portal will be offered as the first portal choice option for all new subscribers to Verizon's FiOS Internet and High Speed Internet services. Customers who choose the Verizon-Yahoo portal will get Yahoo Search, and co-branded e-mail, Instant Messenger and Toolbar applications. Yahoo also will provide search and display advertising on the co-branded portal and e-mail application, and both companies will share the search, advertising and e-commerce revenues generated by users of the co-branded portal. "In addition to providing consumers the fastest upload and download broadband connection speeds available, Verizon offers features and services that enhance our customers' Internet experience," said Eric J. Bruno, senior vice president, Verizon Corporate Marketing. "Allowing customers to select a portal and personalize their content is a key part of the Verizon broadband experience." Beyond news and information, the co-branded Verizon-Yahoo portal offers access to content and tools from Yahoo!, including e-mail previews, to-do lists, sports updates, weather, finance portfolios and TV listings, as well as photos and videos from Flickr, one of the world's leading online photo and video-sharing communities. It also offers direct, one-click access to Verizon.net and other select Verizon and third-party sites. August 11, 2008 Yahoo announced that it will offer users greater choice in how they manage their privacy online by enabling them to opt-out of customized advertising on Yahoo.com. This new option expands Yahoo's existing opt-out program for customized advertising served by Yahoo on third party networks. Yahoo announced the new opt-out capability as part of its response to a Congressional inquiry about customization sent to 33 companies from the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Yahoo!'s full response to the letter from Congressman Dingell is attached below. Anne Toth, head of privacy and VP for policy, said, "Yahoo understands the trust of our users is our greatest asset, so we strive to create the most trusted, compelling online experience." "Yahoo strongly believes that consumers want choice when customizing their online experience and they have also demonstrated a strong preference for advertising that is more personally relevant to them," continued Toth. "However, we understand that there are some users who prefer not to receive customized advertising and this opt-out will offer them even greater choice." This new opt-out capability is expected to be available for consumers by the end of August. Users will be able to access the opt-out in the Yahoo privacy center, which is linked on the home page and nearly every page on the Yahoo network. Users will also be able to access the opt-out through a link in the public service advertising campaign Yahoo has been running with online ads across its network to educate users about customized advertising. July 24, 2008 Yahoo reported revenues of $1.798 billion for the second quarter of 2008, a 6 percent increase compared to the same period of 2007. Net income for the second quarter of 2008 was $131 million. "Yahoo is executing against its strategy, and we believe is well positioned for long-term growth and maximizing stockholder value," said Jerry Yang, co-founder and chief executive of Yahoo Inc. "Yahoo saw benefits in the second quarter from a number of the strategic initiatives that we have been delivering against, including the roll out of innovations in search and the announcement of a number of important partnerships. We are seeing validation that we have the right strategy as we continue to make transformational investments that position us to take advantage of pivotal trends driving growth on the Internet." "Yahoo's transformation gained momentum in the second quarter as we announced new product initiatives and partnerships along with solid financial results," said Sue Decker, president of Yahoo Inc. "We advanced our position with users by opening up Yahoo through new innovative offerings like SearchMonkey and BOSS in search and have seen great improvements with Buzz in the freshness of content on our home page. Our commercial agreement with Google is another great example of our open strategy and we expect it will strengthen our competitive position as a leading provider of search and display advertising. July 22, 2008 Yahoo is letting activist investor Carl Icahn join its Board of Directors after months of arguing over a sale to Microsoft. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, eight members of Yahoo's current Board of Directors will stand for re-election at the 2008 annual meeting: Roy Bostock, Ronald Burkle, Eric Hippeau, Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur Kern, Mary Agnes Wilderotter, Gary Wilson and Jerry Yang. In view of the settlement agreement with Mr. Icahn, and the termination of the proxy contest, Robert Kotick has decided not to stand for re-election to the Board at the 2008 annual meeting. Following the 2008 annual meeting, the Yahoo Board will be expanded to 11 members. Carl Icahn will be appointed to the Board and the remaining two seats will be filled by the Board upon the recommendation of the Board's Nominating and Governance Committee from a list of nine candidates recommended by Mr. Icahn, which includes the eight remaining members of the Icahn slate of nominees and Jonathan Miller, currently a partner in Velocity Interactive Group and former Chairman and CEO of AOL. As part of the settlement agreement, Mr. Icahn, who owns an aggregate of 68,786,320 shares, or 4.98% of Yahoo common stock, has agreed to withdraw his nominees for consideration at the annual meeting and to vote his Yahoo shares in support of the Board's nominees. July 18, 2008 The Mercury News scored a rare but brief interview with Yahoo co-founder David Filo. Elise Ackerman asked him questions about Yahoo and its search business. Click here for the interview. July 14, 2008 Yahoo said it has rejected a joint proposal this weekend from Microsoft Corporation and investor Carl Icahn for a complex restructuring of Yahoo that would include the acquisition of Yahoo's search business by Microsoft. The proposal was made on Friday evening and Yahoo was given less than 24 hours to accept the proposal, the fundamental terms of which Microsoft and Mr. Icahn made clear they were unwilling to negotiate. After reviewing the proposal with its legal and financial advisers, Yahoo said its Board of Directors determined that accepting the proposal was not in the best interests of its stockholders. The Board's rejection of the proposal was based on a number of factors, including the following: 1. Yahoo's existing business plus its recently signed commercial agreement with Google has superior financial value and less complexity and risk than the Microsoft/Icahn proposal. 2. The Microsoft/Icahn proposal would preclude a potential sale of all of Yahoo! for a full and fair price, including a control premium. 3. The major component of the overall value per share asserted by Microsoft/Icahn would be in Yahoo!'s remaining non-search businesses which would be overseen by Mr. Icahn's slate of directors, which has virtually no working knowledge of Yahoo!'s businesses. 4. The Microsoft/Icahn proposal would require the immediate replacement of the current Board and removal of the top management team at Yahoo!. The Yahoo! Board believes these moves would destabilize Yahoo! for the up to the one year it would take to gain regulatory approval for this deal. Roy Bostock, Chairman of Yahoo said, "This odd and opportunistic alliance of Microsoft and Carl Icahn has anything but the interests of Yahoo's stockholders in mind. Clearly, Microsoft, having failed to advance in search, is aligning with the short-term objectives of Mr. Icahn to coerce Yahoo into selling its core strategic search assets on terms that are highly advantageous to Microsoft, but disadvantageous to Yahoo! stockholders. Yahoo's Board of Directors will not allow that to happen. Yahoo's Board remains open to any transaction that delivers full value to our stockholders - we just do not believe such a transaction should be dictated by Microsoft and a single short-term investor." Mr. Bostock continued, "After negotiating among themselves without the involvement of Yahoo, Carl Icahn and Microsoft presented us with a 'take it or leave it' proposal under which we would be required to restructure the Company, hand over to Microsoft Yahoo!'s valuable search business and to Carl Icahn the rest of the Company, giving us less than 24 hours to respond. It is ludicrous to think that our Board could accept such a proposal. While this type of erratic and unpredictable behavior is consistent with what we have come to expect from Microsoft, we will not be bludgeoned into a transaction that is not in the best interests of our stockholders." July 8, 2008 The saga of Yahoo-Microsoft continues as shareholder Carl Icahn released a letter stating that Microsoft would still be interested in buying the company if the current Board of Directors of Yahoo is replaced. Yahoo responded to Icahn's letter with the following: "Yahoo's Board of Directors continues to stand ready to enter into negotiations with Microsoft Corporation for an acquisition of Yahoo. Indeed, as recently as June, Yahoo's independent directors and management approached Steve Ballmer about just such a transaction, only to be told that Microsoft was no longer interested even in the price range which they had previously proposed. Now Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Icahn have teamed up in an apparent effort to force Yahoo! into selling to Microsoft its Search business at a price to be determined in a future "negotiation" between Mr. Icahn's directors and Microsoft's management. We feel very strongly that this would not lead to an outcome that would be in the best interests of Yahoo!'s stockholders. If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo!, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately. And if Mr. Icahn has an actual plan for Yahoo! beyond hoping that Microsoft might actually consummate a deal which they have repeatedly walked away from, we would be very interested in hearing it." June 28, 2008 Yahoo has announced changes to its organization aimed at improving its products, technologies and execution. Key elements Yahoo announced are the centralization of consumer product development to enhance the company's ability to release products worldwide; the creation of a U.S. region focused on bringing products to market for users, advertisers and publishers; formation of an insights strategy team; and enhancements to the technology infrastructure to optimize the use of data and improve coordination between product and engineering teams. The company is creating three new teams that will report to President Sue Decker. An Audience Products Division will assume responsibility for companywide product strategy and product management. It will be led by Ash Patel who previously managed the company's Platforms & Infrastructure group. A U.S. region with accountability for all go-to-market activity in the U.S. will be led by Hilary Schneider, who previously headed the company's Global Partner Solutions group. Finally, an Insights Strategy team will assume responsibility for centralizing and executing a common strategy for the use of data and analysis across Yahoo!. The company plans to name this group's leader within the next few weeks. "These moves accelerate the ability of our deep and talented team to build great products, grow our audiences and improve monetization globally," said Jerry Yang, CEO. "They are designed to put us in an even better position to leverage our leading global audience and capture the opportunity we see in the convergence of search and display advertising." Yahoo has seen a mass exodus of executives from the company following the end of Microsoft discussions to acquire it. June 18, 2008 Yahoo announced the global availability of two new e-mail domains that will give users the chance to register for the e-mail address or Yahoo ID they have always wanted. People can get a new e-mail address at ymail.com and rocketmail.com. Yahoo Mail is the number one Web mail service in the world according to Comscore with more than 260 million users worldwide. As a result of its global popularity, many desirable e-mail addresses have already been taken for the yahoo.com domain, as well as for localized versions of the namespace in countries around the world. With the two new e-mail domain choices, Yahoo! will make millions of new e-mail addresses available to the online community. E-mail addresses at the new domains will have the same great Yahoo Mail features as addresses at the yahoo.com domain, including: -- Unlimited storage - Yahoo Mail provides all users with free unlimited e-mail storage -- Integrated Instant Messaging and Text Messaging - Users can connect in real-time to their contacts with Yahoo! Messenger or Windows Live Messenger and send text messages to friends on the go, right from their Yahoo! Mail inbox -- Protection from spam and viruses - All of the same great protection that is built into Yahoo Mail will apply to these new domains. Yahoo uses advanced technologies and data from numerous sources to dramatically reduce the delivery of spam and phishing e-mails -- Country-specific e-mail account - When signing up for an e-mail account, users have the option of choosing localized country versions from each of the Yahoo! domains: yahoo.com, ymail.com and rocketmail.com The Yahoo ID will work for everything across the Yahoo Network, from checking e-mail to using Yahoo Messenger, Flickr, Groups, Sports, Finance and more. June 13, 2008 Yahoo has announced that discussions with Microsoft regarding a potential deal -- either for an acquisition of all of Yahoo or a partial acquisition -- have ended. The conclusion of discussions follows numerous meetings and conversations with Microsoft regarding a number of transaction alternatives, including a meeting between Yahoo and Microsoft on June 8th in which Chairman Roy Bostock and other independent Board members from Yahoo participated. At that meeting, Microsoft representatives stated unequivocally that Microsoft is not interested in pursuing an acquisition of all of Yahoo, even at the price range it had previously suggested. Microsoft had bid $45 billion in February to buy Yahoo but the company held out for a higher price, which Microsoft has refused to pay. Instead, Yahoo has signed a partnership with Google to run advertising on search pages in the U.S. and Canada which could generate $800 million a year. Yahoo also expects the agreement to generate an estimated $250 million to $450 million in incremental operating cash flow.
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