Roy Bostock, Yahoo! Chairman of the Board:
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! His deep understanding of online businesses combined with his team building and operational capabilities will restore the energy, focus, and momentum necessary to grow the core business and deliver increased value for our shareholders.
The entire message of the PR points to making the company profitable, and when you hire a guy who handles the world’s largest online payment company, you may get just that.
As for what this means for Yahoo! services and long term benefit, only time will tell.
Scott’s pedigree (emphasis on companies he has worked for, mine):
Scott Thompson has a record of deep industry experience, having most recently served as President of PayPal with overall responsibility for establishing that company as the leading global online payment service. He previously served as PayPal’s Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Prior to PayPal, Mr. Thompson was Executive Vice President of technology solutions at Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa formed to oversee global technology for the organization. Thompson was also Chief Information Officer of Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure. In addition, he worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients.
Follow the dollar — you’ll likely see a surge of interest in the stock price and a slashing of various services Yahoo! doesn’t need. But, will Scott grow the company back to the golden days of web portals and terrible looking websites?