Saturday, December 15, 2012

Yahoo nets PayPal co founder Max Levchin in boardroom shake up

Yahoo Inc said that two of its directors have resigned immediately and that PayPal  co-founder Max Levchin has been appointed to the board, the latest change to the struggling Internet company under new chief executive Marissa Mayer. 

The changes come five months after Mayer, a formerGoogle Inc executive, took the top job, and complete a boardroom transformation that began in May when activist investor Dan Loeb settled a bitter proxy fight with Yahoo. 
Intuit Inc Chief Executive Brad Smith and the Weather Channel's CEO, David Kenny, have both decided to step down from Yahoo's board effective immediately, Yahoo said in a statement on Thursday. 

An Intuit spokeswoman said that Smith, a board member since 2010, had notified Yahoo that he decided not to stand for re-election because he wanted to focus on his role leading Intuit, a tax and financial servicessoftware company. 

Kenny did not return calls for comment. Levchin's background in technology and product development will be a boon to Yahoo, Mayer said in a statement. "Max is someone I've admired throughout my career for his phenomenal sense for great products and keen focus on user experiences," she said. 

Mayer has moved to revitalize Yahoo's various Web products and reverse years of declining revenue since becoming CEO in July. 

Google's first female engineer, Mayer is widely admired in Silicon Valley for her Web product savvy, though some analysts and investors have expressed caution, noting that Mayer has never before led an entire company as CEO. 

Shares of Yahoo were up 4 cents at $19.42 on Thursday afternoon on the Nasdaq. 

The boardroom changes were first reported by the New York Times on Thursday. 

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