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Top Yahoo media executive Mickie Rosen is leaving the Internet giant, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The news comes as activist shareholder Daniel Loeb, the catalyst for upheaval at Yahoo in 2012, announced his resignation from Yahoo’s board. Loeb’s public push for change at Yahoo led to the hiring of Google executive Marissa Mayer as CEO and a revamp of its board. Rosen, who joined Yahoo in January 2011, has been the top media executive since the departure of former interim CEO Ross Levinsohn in August 2012.
Levinsohn is CEO of The Hollywood Reporter‘s parent company, Guggenheim Digital Media.
Rosen oversaw Yahoo’s content and commerce businesses, including powerful media properties Yahoo Sports, Movies, News, Shine and OMG!. Prior to joining the internet giant, she worked with Levinsohn at Fuse Capital as an investment partner, and at Fox Interactive Media as senior vp entertainment. Previously, she spent time at Fandango and McKinsey & Company.
It’s unclear what Rosen’s departure means for Yahoo’s media and entertainment efforts, based in Santa Monica. Yahoo has seen many key changes since Mayer took the top spot, including a buying spree that led to the acquisition of some 19 companies. Most of those have been shut down, with their staff assimilating into Yahoo (commonly known as “acqui-hiring,” a tactic Google and other Silicon Valley companies use). Yahoo’s biggest acquisition, the $1.1 billion purchase of Tumblr, will be operated as a standalone business.
Yahoo posted weak earnings last week, as both its search and advertising segments declined. While Mayer has clearly energized parts of its employee base and has people talking about Yahoo again, its financial results are lagging. However, the stock price has rebounded to a 5-year high, which most analysts tie to the company’s Alibaba relationship.
Yahoo owns a significant stake in the Chinese Internet giant, which is slated to go public sometimes later this year or early next year. Yahoo could earn $6.3 billion in cash and $800 million in newly issued stock as part of that deal.
The Alibaba deal was brokered three months before Mayer joined Yahoo.
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