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Ross Levinsohn: Marissa Mayer needed 'clean slate' at Yahoo

Ross Levinsohn, in his first interview since departing Yahoo, told Bloomberg he left the company in part because CEO Marissa Mayer needed a "clean slate" and the ability to choose her own team:

In talking to Marissa I think we agreed that you need a clear path, and I think I was pretty well entrenched with the guard that was there. I felt like it was right for her to have a clean slate going forward and if I stayed it probably wasn't the right thing to do. I took a good run at trying to be … Read more

Steve Jobs -- The untold tales

Steve Jobs left strong impressions on the people he knew, and some of them have shared those impressions in the latest issue of Forbes.

Stories about meetings and encounters with Jobs are always intriguing owing to the multifaceted personality of the man.

This Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the death of the Apple leader, prompting the magazine to publish some of the "untold" tales about Jobs as related by friends and colleagues.

Web browser guru and now venture capitalist Marc Andreessen related a story in which Jobs showed him a prototype of the first iPhone in 2006. … Read more

'Star Trek' fusion impulse engine in the works

There's a hierarchy of "Star Trek" inventions we would like to see become reality. We already have voice-controlled computers and communicators in the form of smartphones. A working Holodeck is under development. Now, how about we get some impulse engines for our starships?

The University of Alabama in Huntsville's Aerophysics Research Center, NASA, Boeing, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating on a project to produce nuclear fusion impulse rocket engines. It's no warp drive, but it would get us around the galaxy a lot quicker than current technologies.… Read more

Ross Levinsohn says adios to Yahoo

Ross Levinsohn is not sticking around for the Marissa Mayer era at Yahoo, free meals or no.

Levinsohn, appointed as interim Yahoo CEO after Scott Thompson got forced out earlier this year, is leaving the company. The news, confirmed by Yahoo, was first reported by AllThingsD, which cited multiple unnamed sources.

"Ross has done a terrific job during his time at Yahoo," a Yahoo spokesperson said. "We wish him all the best."

Yahoo is also paying him handsomely for his time as interim CEO. In an SEC filing today, Yahoo disclosed that it awarded Levinsohn an … Read more

Marissa Mayer enters the Yahoo pressure cooker

Marissa Mayer is in her second week of running Yahoo, going about the business of learning more about the place she was brought in to run -- for a hefty sum -- as she seeks to reinvigorate and refocus a company long described as "beleaguered" and "troubled."

Everyone seems to have advice about how Mayer ought to go about her business at Yahoo, not to mention conduct her personal life. Mayer will face pressure of a different magnitude from anything that she faced during her 13-year stint at Google.

Mayer, who joined Google as a 24-year-old … Read more

As Yahoo meets, still no official nod for Levinsohn as CEO

Give Yahoo this much: They know how to keep the rest of us in suspense.

It was a big letdown today for any Yahoo watchers who had expected the company to name Ross Levinsohn as its new CEO during the annual shareholder meeting, which came and went this morning. Levinsohn is still serving as the company's interim boss since May.

Unlike Yahoo's previous two CEOs, Scott Thompson and Carol Bartz, Levinsohn actually has a background in media, a resume entry that one might assume would be helpful running what, essentially, is a media company. That hasn't been … Read more

Inside Yahoo, word is that Levinsohn's the one

Updated at 4:23 PM ET

Wishful thinking or loose lips? It's impossible to know for certain, but word inside Yahoo is spreading that the board intends to officially appoint Ross Levinsohn as CEO, perhaps as early as next week.

A shocker? Hardly.

The shocker would be if Yahoo's board chose someone other than Levinsohn, who has been the interim grand poobah since Scott Thompson stepped down as CEO this past spring. After a week of leaks floating the names of other possible candidates, Yahoo's board can claim to have done due diligence, and thus avoid criticism … Read more

Yahoo's Levinsohn hopes to prove himself with ad plan, report says

Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn has some ideas on how he's going to improve his company's standing among advertisers, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today, citing sources, that Levinsohn has decided to refocus Yahoo's business on Web ads. In order to achieve his goal, he wants to generate more content and cling to major events like the Super Bowl and Oscars to attract advertisers. One source told the Journal that Levinsohn believes his chances of keeping the reins at Yahoo will rely upon his ability to keep ad agencies interested in … Read more

Yahoo discontinues Livestand

Though Yahoo's Livestand digital newsstand app has been up and running for less than a year, the company has decided to pull the plug on it.

The company announced its decision in a blog post today, saying it has learned a lot about what works and doesn't work with Livestand and is "actively applying those insights toward the development of future products that are better aligned with Yahoo!'s holistic mobile strategy."

The app has earned four stars in the App Store and is one of the first products the company plans to discontinue this year. … Read more