Yahoo hires two new execs
The resurgent Web portal names new heads for its marketing and international efforts, calling on a snack food veteran and a former journalist to fill the spots.
On Wednesday, the company appointed Cammie Dunaway, a veteran of snack food giant Frito-Lay, as its chief marketing officer. Dunaway fills a position vacated by former marketing head John Costello, who left Yahoo in October 2002 to become chief marketing officer of retailing giant The Home Depot.
Dunaway's role will encompass marketing for all of Yahoo's consumer and enterprise properties. She will report to Chief Operating Officer Dan Rosensweig. At Frito-Lay, Dunaway oversaw popular snack brands such as Doritos, Lays, Cheetos, Ruffles and Rold Gold.
Yahoo also hired John Marcom as senior vice president of its international operations, reporting to Rosensweig. Marcom, previously president of the Americas for The Financial Times newspaper, fills a void left by former international head Heather Killen, who left Yahoo in April 2001.
Marcom began his career as a journalist covering media and technology for publishers The Wall Street Journal and Forbes in Asia and Europe. He spent eight years at Time, now a division of AOL Time Warner, launching publications in regions around Asia and then served as a senior vice president at San Francisco-based Web multimedia company AtomFilms, now part of AtomShockwave, between 2000 and 2001.
Yahoo's business units in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America will report to Marcom.
The appointments come as Yahoo rounds out its ranks during a period of growing prosperity for the once-beleaguered company. Last quarter, it reported a $46.7 million profit and revenue of $282.9 million, in contrast to a loss of $53.6 million on revenue of $192.7 million during the same period the previous year.
Much of the Web portal's growth stems from a successful deal with commercial search company Overture Services, which fueled 19 percent of Yahoo's revenue, or $54 million, last quarter.
Yahoo is also sitting on a $2 billion war chest after securing a $750 million interest-free loan earlier this year. Wall Street analysts have suggested that the money could be used to make acquisitions.