Yahoo's CEO Thompson Out, Levinsohn, But Will He Finally Show Respect To Canada?

BY: 

Dave Forde
May 14, 2012

Well it looks like “Resume-gate” has finally have come to an end, Yahoo has released an official statement, Scott Thompson is no longer heading up Yahoo after the botched way he handled the resume and his subsequent mis-represention. As an added bonus, activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point who was the one to bring the situation to light will be getting the additional Board changes he was looking for.
Thompson’s replacement on will be none other than Ross Levinsohn (for the interm), Yahoo’s Global Media Head, and some may remember the guy who bailed on making an appearance in Toronto at Yahoo! Canada’s Upfront last fall. This was a critical time for the company to show support and the Canada as the then CEO Carol Bartz was just fired, but instead it showed the hundreds in the room that supporting and were customers of Yahoo, that Canada is an after thought. With the advances in technology there really wasn’t anything that Ross could do in Sunnyvale that could not have been done in Toronto.

If Ross does in fact take over as the new CEO of Yahoo  on a permanent basis it will be interesting to see what changes will take effect here in Canada. Back in January 2012, he was interviewed by Marketing Mag and shared comments such as “an emerging market for us, a growth market and an incredibly important strategic market.” but this is hard to do with an arm’s length management style. Michel Protti who is the General Manager of Yahoo! Canada is also based in Sunnyvale, which is a very different way to manage such a “strategic market” when you compared to all the other players that have an actual presence and Canadian-based Country Manager.

Maybe we’re wrong, maybe Yahoo has the secret on how to run Canada, no wait they can’t even seem to hire a CEO that stays for longer than one year. One thing we can say for sure, Yahoo has had a number of people in Canada that at one point would “bleed purple,” and one by one they have pissed, fired, layed off and just frustrated them away.

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Dave Forde


Dave “The Connector” Forde has been involved in the marketing, public relations and technology industry across Canada for over 20 years in various sales and marketing roles, he launched The Connected One network of business sites which connects buyers to the right sellers. Profectio and PR In Canada covers news about the marketing and public relations industry each day helping professionals advance their career and businesses. He also serves as an advisor to a number of businesses across the country. Find Dave on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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