Yahoo Announces Reorganization

Yahoo has just announced a reorganization designed to make it the top online destination for both Internet users and online advertisers.

Still under fire from shareholders upset the company didn’t sell out to Microsoft earlier this year—and still hemorrhaging high-profile personnel—Internet giant Yahoo has announced a reorganization the company says is intended to make it the first choice online site for Internet users, and a “must buy” site for online advertisers. Yahoo plans to centralize its development teams, create a new business unit focussed solely on the United States, and form an “insight strategies team” that will handle data and analysis for the entire company.

“These moves accelerate the ability of our deep and talented team to build great products, grow our audiences and improve monetization globally,” said Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, in a statement. “They are designed to put us in an even better position to leverage our leading global audience and capture the opportunity we see in the convergence of search and display advertising.”

Under the reorg, Yahoo will form an Audience Products Division, led by former platforms and infrastructure head Ash Patel, to handle company-wide product strategy and product management. A new group led by Hillary Schneider will be responsible for all go-to-market activity in the United States, and a new Insights and Strategy team will centralize all data analysis across Yahoo and form a common strategy for the use of that information. Yahoo will name a head for the insight group in the coming weeks.

Yahoo also announced that CTO Ari Balogh will be responsible for building a “world-class” cloud computing and storage infrastructure, implying that Yahoo plans to invest heavily in offering cloud-based applications and services to compete with the likes of Google, Amazon Microsoft, and Apple’s just-announced MobileMe services—although it might be a little late to the game.

Industry watchers generally reacted positivity to the reorganization, particularly the consolidation of the product development group, which may help Yahoo reign in its sprawling suite of services which, in recent years, have been fueled more by acquisitions than internal development.