Another Yahoo! executive has been shaken from the branches in the form of Wenda Millard, chief sales officer, as the company continues to reorganise its business model in the face of a slackening ad market.
Last week long time CEO Terry Semel was replaced by Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang amid rumours of further reshuffling which were confirmed today.
Millard will leave the company immediately. “The industry has shifted and requires a different set of skills to take the business forward,” said Gregory Coleman, executive vice-president of global sales, Yahoo!.
Millard will not be replaced; instead, Yahoo!’s display and search advertising sectors will be merged under direct control of David Karnstedt, currently senior vice-president of the search sales department.
“The future of advertising isn’t about choosing between search and display but about leveraging the breadth of advertising products to more effectively reach your customers with the right message, in the right context, at the right time and on the right platform,” said Coleman.
The company last week predicted that revenues would be reduced due to a decrease in the display advertising market but did not cite this as the reason the two sectors were merging.
Yahoo! has referred to recent studies by comScore on online advertising, saying that the synergy of display and search lead to both increased online and offline purchases of advertisers goods and services.
The integration of the two advertising units is currently under way and Yahoo! said it would soon be revealing details of the further restructuring and executives that would lead the unified division.
By Marie Boran
