Brand new CEO for Yahoo

Yahoo has finally found a new chief executive to replace Carol Bartz and he is Scott Thompson, who till recently was the president of the PayPal division of eBay.

With the deterioration of Yahoo’s core business – user engagement declining, stagnant email product, lack of substantive mobile strategy – turnaround needs to happen at many levels, including product development, infrastructure improvement, talent retention, and brand building, among others, to return the company to a positive growth trajectory. Revenue has declined for the last 12 quarters and with competition continually innovating in these areas, execution of new strategic initiatives and product improvement could be challenging.

Thompson has a track record of proven success with PayPal emerging as a leader in online payments. The company has over 100mm people that have connected PayPal to their credit card and/or bank accounts, a meaningful technology lead, the trust that’s been built around the brand, and over $3.5 bn in mobile transactions already on the platform. It’s worth noting however, that previous CEO Carol Bartz was viewed as a strong restructuring hire who was overwhelmed by this challenge and the conflicting goals of Yahoo’s board and its shareholders.

Scott Thompson has a record of deep industry experience, having most recently served as President of PayPal with overall responsibility for establishing that company as the leading global online payment service. He previously served as PayPal’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to PayPal, Mr. Thompson was Executive Vice President of technology solutions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organization. Thompson was also Chief Information Officer of Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure. In addition, he worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients.

From those who know him, he is said to have solid leadership skills and tends to focus on technology - both things Yahoo needs badly.

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