Yahoo CEO Outlines New Structure, Commerce Focus

LONDON - Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson on Tuesday outlined in a memo to the staff of the online company a new organizational structure and a focus on commerce initiatives, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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The news comes after Yahoo unveiled 2,000 layoffs last week. Activist shareholder Third Point criticized that the CEO hadn't detailed the vision behind the job cuts. 

Thompson is looking to return the Internet giant to prominence, with commerce revenue being one key focus.

The company "will renew our focus on commerce" and "will go beyond traditional e-commerce," he said in his memo, according to the Journal. 

The new CEO also said he was splitting the firm into three groups. They are a consumer group, which includes Yahoo's media sites and commerce-related, search and email services; regions, which is broken up into the Americas, Europe and Asia divisions that work with advertising partners; and technology.



The three groups will be supported by the corporate finance, legal and human resources departments.



The goal of the commerce push is "driving higher [return on investment] for advertisers and agencies that reach users on Yahoo by closing the loop for them between user interests, advertiser spend, consumer intent and purchase behavior," Thompson said. He didn't detail how exactly Yahoo would help ad customers sell more products to Yahoo visitors to boost its commission and fee revenue. 



Yahoo currently makes about $1 billion in annual revenue via commerce partnerships in such fields as autos, shopping, travel, job search, online dating and real estate, the Journal said.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai