Tag Archives: Ross Levinsohn
Alibaba Buys Back Stake From Yahoo! For $7.1 Billion
Yahoo! is selling half of their stake in the Alibaba Group back to them for $7.1 billion and most of the sales proceeds will be to their own shareholders. The discussions between Alibaba and Yahoo! has been ongoing for the last 2 years. Yahoo! bought 40% in Alibaba for $1 billion in 2005. Yahoo! will sell half of that stake in Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock.
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Categories AliBaba, Alibaba Group, Alibaba.com, Jack Ma, Ross Levinsohn, Tim Morse, Yahoo!
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Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson Stepping Down After Resume Scandal
Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson is stepping down from the company. Ross Levinsohn will become the interim CEO at the company. Thompson is stepping down amidst a controversy revolving around his online resume. His bio on Yahoo!’s and former employer eBay said that he had a computer science and accounting degree when it was actually only in accounting. When the official announcement is made, he will likely cite “personal reasons” for stepping down. Yahoo!’s board of directors are going to reach a settlement with Dan Loeb, the shareholder that discovered Thompson’s degree was fake. Fred Amoroso will be named chairman of Yahoo!’s board and the five directors on Yahoo!’s board will step down immediately.
Categories Ross Levinsohn, Scott Thompson, Yahoo!
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Dan Loeb Sends A Letter Again To Have Scott Thompson CEO Fired
Third Point founder and Yahoo! activist shareholder Daniel Loeb has released a new letter about the resume controversy surrounding Scott Thompson. In the letter, he requested the firing of Scott Thompson. “It seems farcical to us that the Board will most likely spend more time deliberating over whether Mr. Thompson should be fired than it did properly vetting whether he should have been hired,” states the letter. “The necessary investigation into whether certain senior executives and Board Members knew of Mr. Thompson’s deceptions before hiring him should not delay decisive action over his ethical breaches.”
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Categories Dan Loeb, John Donahoe, Patti Hart, Ross Levinsohn, Scott Thompson, Third Point, Tim Morse, Yahoo!
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Viral Video Producers Next New Networks Raises $1 Million In Debt Financing
Earlier this month I wrote about how YouTube was considering to buy out viral video production company Next New Networks. It turns out that in the middle of these talks, Next New Networks raised $1 million in debt financing according to an SEC filing. Some of the investors in this round include Ross Levinsohn (Fuse Capital), Bijan Sabet (Spark Capital), Saban Capital Group, and Goldman Sachs. [TechCrunch]
Yahoo! Hires Wayne Powers As North American Ad Sales Head
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has hired Wayne Powers to head up their North American advertising sales. Powers was an executive at Time Warner Inc. beforehand. Powers, 49, worked as the president of the media group at Time Inc. He will now be reporting to Ross Levinsohn. Powers is replacing Joanne Bradford, who left Yahoo! to join Demand Media. Yahoo! almost considered not replacing Bradford, but the executive she reported to, Hilary Schneider, also left the company. Levinsohn will be replacing Schneider later this year. [WSJ]
Categories Joanne Bradford, Ross Levinsohn, Time Inc., Time Warner, Wayne Powers, Yahoo!
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Yahoo! Hires Ross Levinsohn As EVP of Americas
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has hired Ross Levinsohn as EVP of Americas. Levinsohn will be in charge of advertising sales and partnerships. He will be reporting directly to CEO Carol Bartz. Levinsohn will be stepping down as the co-founder and managing director of equity management company Fuse Capital. Levinsohn was the President of Fox Interactive Media at the time that they acquired MySpace. Before joining Fox, Levinsohn had management positions at AltaVista, HBO, and CBS Sportsline. [CNET]
Categories Carol Bartz, Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo!
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Startup 5to1 Comes Out Of Stealth To Make Advertising More Relevant
5to1 is a start-up that launched out of stealth mode at the TechCrunch50 conference. The company aims to make it easier for advertising companies to sell off remnant advertising. Remnant advertising is inventory that was unable to be sold due to ad space or time.
Many people that view news websites will notice there is quite a bit of ads that seem totally irrelevant from the publisher’s brand. The team behind 5to1 includes former Fox Interactive executives Jim Heckman and Ross Levinsohn. 5to1 even raised $4.5 million in seed funding.
5to1 helps get rid of the ineffective ad campaigns that only benefit the networks selling the campaigns. The end goal of the service is to increase the quality and revenue of advertisements.
Categories 5to1, FOX, Fox Interactive, Fox Interactive Media, Jim Heckman, Ross Levinsohn
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