Yahoo names PayPal exec as its CEO

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Yahoo names PayPal exec as its CEO

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Yahoo Inc. has named Scott Thompson as its new CEO.

04 January,2012 08:12 pm

Scott was earlier president of eBay Inc.s PayPal division. He is the fourth one in less than five years for the struggling Internet company (Yahoo).Yahoo, which announced its choice Wednesday, has been without a permanent CEO since early September. It fired Carol Bartz after losing patience with her attempts to turn around the company during her 2 1/2 years on the job. Tim Morse, Yahoos chief financial officer, has been interim CEO since Bartzs ouster.Thompson has served as president of PayPal, eBays online payment service, since January 2008. He previously served as PayPals senior vice president and chief technology officer.Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo said Thompsons new job starts on Jan. 9. Morse will return to his CFO post.Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said Thompsons track record of building on existing resources to reignite innovation and drive growth is precisely the formula we need at Yahoo.It will be a big task. Yahoo has been losing ground in the fast-growing Internet advertising market to Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. for years. Mainly for this reason, its stock price has not topped $20 for the past three years.Yahoos board has been reviewing a possible sale of all or part of the company since Bartzs ouster last fall. There are several potential suitors, including Chinas Alibaba Group, which may join up with private equity firms in a joint bid.Bartz, too, was hired to help turn Yahoo around but she had no experience in Internet advertising Yahoos main revenue source. This immediately raised doubts about her qualifications.Yahoo shares fell 30 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $15.98 in morning trading. Shares of eBay, meanwhile, dropped $1.14, or 3.6 percent, to $30.20.