First off - Yahoo, again. In what looks like a reaction to recent criticism about inflexibility and missed acquisition opportunities, Yahoo has announced a major reorganisation in which it will split into three operating groups covering audience, advertising and technology.
Also today: Various revamps and relaunches including Conde Nast, New Statesman and Also today: Various revamps and relaunches including Conde Nast, New Statesman, MSN and NewsMarket; New Media Age editorial reshuffle; and AOL focusing on web ads.
Under what was intriguingly titled 'Project Soufflé', chief financial officer Susan Decker will head the advertising group, and search senior vice president Jeff Weiner will take on social media, communications and the company's media group. The technology group will be headed by chief technical officer Farzad Nazem. Two senior execs, chief operating officer Daniel Rosenweig and Yahoo media group head Lloyd Braun, are leaving: Braun is reported to have had run-ins with management over budgets, according to the New York Times.
Chairman and chief executive Terry Semel said the restructure will reduce bottlenecks and speed decision-making, and that the business would focus less on product and more on consumers. "Yahoo has always been very product-specific. Many different groups in the company were building new product innovations and features for whatever group they were working for."
- Yahoo's press release - Variety: Braun's resignation wasn't part of the new plan, but he evidently didn't like proposals for his new role. - Huffington Post: Braun may have felt upstaged by Vince Broady. - LA Times: Broady said he might be interested in a new job that combines old and new media.
• Revamps & relaunches: - Vogue (one of the best mainstream news websites, IMHO) and Glamour are launching an online shopping guide next year. - MSN has overhauled its travel channel. - The New Statesman site relaunched last week, if you missed it. Worth checking out the new design and the lead story on Murdoch, by David Puttnam. Good having comments on news stories, obvious and often overlooked. - Free video news site News Market has relaunched with a simplified interface.
• New Media Age appointments Justin Pearse isn't leaving New Media Age after all; he's being promoted from deputy to editor. Features editor Nic Howell is the new deputy and editor Michael Nutley has become editor-in-chief.
• Time Warner focuses on web ads Time Warner chief exec Richard Parsons said AOL is making progress after making nearly all its services free to use in an effort to increase ad sales, according to Reuters. He said the company is looking for more internet ad technology deals and, according to an interview last week, Time Warner is looking at targeted ad insertion services. He also said the company is unlikely to sell off AOL's internet service business in the US as it has in Europe.
