New Yahoo CEO Starts Hunting

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Henrique de CastroNow that Marissa Mayer, Yahoo's new CEO, is back from maternity leave, she is building her new management team. On her first day back, she has hired Henrique de Castro from Google to be the company's chief operating officer. According to Yahoo's press release,  "de Castro will be responsible for strategic and operational management of Yahoo!'s sales, operations, media and business development worldwide."

Yahoo published the usual feel-good statements from both parties:

"'Henrique is an incredibly accomplished and rigorous business leader, and I'm personally excited to have him join Yahoo!'s strong leadership team,' said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!. 'His operational experience in Internet advertising and his proven success in structuring and scaling global organizations make him the perfect fit for Yahoo! as we propel the business to its next phase of growth.'

"'The combination of Yahoo!'s unique properties with high quality content, its renewed focus on outstanding user experience and its massive reach bring tremendous value to users, advertisers and partners,' said de Castro. 'This is a pivotal point in Yahoo!'s history, and I believe strongly in the opportunity ahead. I can't wait to join Marissa and the team and get started.'"

De Castro could earn $60 million: a $600,000 base salary plus Yahoo stock and millions to compensate for lost Google stock.  

Image source with credit to YouTube.

Discussion Starters and Assignment Idea:

  • Read Yahoo's press release. How is the statement organized? Do you find it well written?
  • Write an email to employees announcing de Castro's appointment. How would you modify the company's press release to an internal audience?