Thaindian News

Washington, Jan 5 (IANS) Yahoo has named Scott Thompson, former president of online payment service PayPal, as its new chief executive officer.

Wednesday’s announcement ended the internet company’s four-month search for the right person to fill the position, Xinhua reported.

Thompson’s appointment will be effective Jan 9, when he will also formally join the company’s board of directors, Yahoo said in a press release.

Yahoo fired former CEO Carol Bartz Sep 6, 2011. Bartz had taken over as CEO from Yahoo co-founder Jerry Young in January 2009, when the company was struggling to stay competitive and profitable in a market dominated by Google.

“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 in a statement upon his appointment.

“Yahoo has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm,” he said.

While announcing Thompson’s appointment, Yahoo said he had a track record of growing businesses by driving customer engagement built on strong technology platforms when he served as president of PayPal, a division of eBay.

Under Thompson’s leadership, PayPal expanded its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million worldwide, and revenues from $1.8 billion to over $4 billion in 2011, according to Yahoo.

Thompson also previously served as PayPal’s senior vice president and chief technology officer. Prior to PayPal, he was executive vice president of technology solutions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organisation.

“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,” Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement.

Following Thompson’s appointment, Tim Morse, who acted as interim CEO, will resume his role as the company’s chief financial officer, Yahoo said.

In its latest financial report released in October 2011, the company’s quarterly revenue dropped by five percent year-over-year.