Ross Levinsohn, who filled the Yahoo CEO position for two months, is leaving the company. The announcement comes two weeks after Yahoo picked former Google exec Marissa Mayer as its permanent CEO.
He sent out an email Monday afternoon that read: “I wanted to let you know that my time at Yahoo has come to an end. It has been an incredible journey for me and I could not be prouder of what we accomplished over the past few years helping define Yahoo as a leader in digital media and advertising. Yahoo is an amazing brand and company, and I leave knowing we did all we could to help inform and entertain more than 700 million users each month. Leading this company has been one of the best experiences of my career, but it is time for me to look for the next challenge.”
Many people in the advertising community had hoped that Mayer would hang onto Levinsohn, who has built strong ties with agencies and other media companies over the years. But there was a strong belief Mayer would choose to surround herself with former colleagues that she knows well.
There was also the lingering question of whether Levinsohn would be able to accept that the board passed over him for the chief executive role. Levinsohn’s tenure was characterized by big content deals with other media companies such as CNBC, ABC News and Clear Channel—and one big acquisition: Interclick, the ad network. With the appointment of Mayer, Yahoo’s board decided to turn the focus away from pure media and back to products that tie users into the Yahoo experience.
Levinsohn exited pretty well: his severance included a year’s base salary, his target annual bonus and a pro-rated portion of his 2013 bonus, as well as about $1 million in restricted stock and 250,000 stock options.
Levinsohn’s exit raises questions about the future of other high-level execs at the company who are former colleagues and formed his inner circle. Among them are Mickie Rosen, Yahoo’s head of media under Levinsohn; Michael Barrett, who Levinsohn poached from Google to be his chief revenue officer shortly before Mayer was hired; Peter Foster, who runs all audience-based advertising; and Jim Heckman his chief strategist and dealmaker.
Reached by Ad Age, Heckman said he’s still at the company.
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