Sunday, October 21, 2007

Yahoo Executive Shake Up

Yahoo (YHOO) announced on Friday that their Chief Marketing Officer will join the management exodus. Allen Olivo, Yahoo's vice president of global brand marketing, will take over Cammie Dunaway's duties until a permanent replacement is found.

We all know that Yahoo is trying to change and that means some executives are going to go. But when senior people like this leave without any obvious replacement in sight you have to wonder about how well Yahoo is executing the internal changes it needs. The press release obviously says little to nothing.

I suspect that there were some heavy discussions preceding the departure. Cammie Dunaway did not see eye to eye with whatever was requested and had to get out of the boat. Just because an employee has to leave does not mean that the employee was necessarily wrong.

Now that the previous Chief Marketing Officer is no longer an obstacle Yahoo needs to articulate what the marketing plan will be. Hiring someone new to figure it out will not do. The new position is now similar to the old school nitro glycerin delivery person that used to service mining projects. We think there is value in the mine but one wrong step on delivery and all is lost. Wonder what the job will pay?