CBS Interactive hires Jim Lanzone as president
The CBS division, which publishes CNET, has hired the former CEO of Ask.com and acquired his current start-up, Clicker.
CBS Interactive, which publishes CNET, announced today that it has hired former Ask.com executive Jim Lanzone as president. He replaces Neil Ashe, who announced last year that he would be stepping down once a successor was named.
Lanzone joins CBS Interactive from Clicker, an online video guide company that he founded in 2008 after leaving IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent company of Ask.com. As part of his hire, CBS Interactive will acquire Clicker.
"In just over a year, Jim has created one of the leading navigation and discovery tools for video programming on the Internet," CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves said in a release. "Clicker's products and proprietary technologies add firepower to our existing portfolio of entertainment properties, and if we can help grow Clicker to its full potential in the years ahead, the strategic value could be tremendous."
Lanzone had worked at Ask.com starting in 2001, when it was still known as Ask Jeeves, through its sale to IAC in 2005, starting as senior vice president of product management and ultimately ending as CEO. He'd joined Ask Jeeves when it acquired his previous company, the dot-com-era eTour.