WebProNews

Category: CFOTrends

  • Ken Goldman Is The New Yahoo CFO As Tim Morse Leaves

    Ken Goldman Is The New Yahoo CFO As Tim Morse Leaves

    Yahoo just announced the appointment of Ken Goldman to its CFO position. Goldman comes from Fortinet, where he also served as CFO. Before that, he spent six years as SVP of finance and administration and CFO at Siebel Systems until the company was acquired by Oracle.

    Goldman has also served as CFO of Excite@Home, Sybase, Cypress Semiconductor and VLSI Technology.

    Ken Goldman

    Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, to whom Goldman will directly report, said, “Ken is one of the most accomplished and respected financial executives in the technology industry having served as a CFO for more than 25 years, and we’re thrilled to have him join Yahoo!. His track record leading the financial strategy and stewardship of many successful public and private companies makes him an ideal choice for Yahoo! as we enter our next phase of growth.”

    “Yahoo! is an iconic brand with an incredibly strong business model and balance sheet,” said Goldman. “I believe there is a lot of runway ahead for this business, and I look forward to working with Marissa and the rest of the executive team as we define Yahoo!’s future.”

    Goldman takes the place of Tim Morse, who became CFO in 2009. He’ll be leaving Yahoo later this fall.

    “Tim has been a trusted leader for Yahoo! over the past three years and has expertly guided the company through some key periods as well as our most important strategic deals,” Mayer said of Morse. “I’ve personally relied on Tim’s knowledge and leadership in my first few months at Yahoo!. I know I speak for everyone in wishing him the best.”

  • Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer Sends Letter To New Campus’s Neighbors

    Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer Sends Letter To New Campus’s Neighbors

    People living near the area that will soon become Apple’s new campus have begun receiving information from the company about the “Campus 2” project. The letter includes some pictures of the new campus, along with information about how it will impact the area. The letter also invited residents to offer feedback and express their concerns about the new campus.

    The letter, a copy of which was obtained by 9to5Mac, comes from Apple’s CFO, Peter Oppenheimer, and includes some interesting details about the new facility. It points out that the facility is not going to replaces Apple’s current headquarters, but will serve as additional R&D space. It will also serve as the venue for Apple’s new product launches. Unfortunately, the campus will not be open to the public, meaning that there won’t be any museum or on-site Apple Store. To minimize the site’s environmental impact, the entire roof will be a massive solar array.

    The letter also reassures local residents that the new facility is not a factory. There will be no manufacturing on the site. Additionally, the company will plant additional trees along the perimeter of the property and convert much of the site (which is currently paved) into green space. The building itself will be well back from the street, meaning that most neighbors and passersby will see the perimeter treeline, rather than the building itself.

    The letter can be seen below (click to enlarge):

    Apple Campus 2 Letter

    The letter included a postage-paid feedback card that recipients could return with their comments, questions, and concerns.

  • Company Fires CFO Over Facebook Posts

    Company Fires CFO Over Facebook Posts

    Ladies’ apparel company Francesca’s Holdings just fired CFO Gene Morphis over questionable Facebook wall posts, according to a press release. The board of directors discovered Morphis’ mentioning of internal company intel on the social media site on May 11th, and hired an independent investigator to look into the matter. Morphis was let go, and in the interim, a search for a new CFO is ongoing, with Cynthia Thomassee, Francesca’s Vice President of Accounting taking the reigns for the time being.

    And spectacularly, Morphis has yet to even set his Facebook Wall to private. Here are some of the more choice posts in question:

    morphis

    morphis

    morphis

    morphis

    Who is Mr. Shorty? And though Morphis might have ‘earned his pay’ for the $275 million in secondary shares, homework or not, it didn’t seem too wise to be commenting on office fashion at a company which sells fashionable wares. Alas, people do stupid things all the time in the realm of social media.

    In an age where some employers are even seeking employee Facebook passwords, one would think that at least setting walls to private might be pertinent. Still, many idiocies still occur, like the kid who tagged himself in a photo taken while he’d siphoned gas out of a police cruiser, the token Facebook fugitive, the various defamers, etc. One must remember that more often than not, employers are looking at Facebook.

  • Groupon Appoints Amazon Exec CFO

    Groupon Appoints Amazon Exec CFO

    The company that supposedly turned down a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google has now given another sign that it has some very interesting financial plans.  Groupon announced today that it’s secured Jason Child, a high-ranking exec at Amazon, as its chief financial officer.

    Child held the title "Vice President of Finance" for Amazon’s international business prior to this move, and that role put him in within a department worth about $14 billion.  So Child has valuable experience with large, public companies that operate in more than one country.

    Child has lots of experience, too.  His LinkedIn profile indicates that he started doing financial work for Amazon in April of 1999, and before that, spent seven years as a consulting manager at the famous accounting firm Arthur Andersen.

    All of this could point towards Groupon wanting to go public.  An IPO would give the company a shot at growing beyond Google’s offer, at all, and Groupon couldn’t (or at least shouldn’t) have tried to go public without an industry veteran guiding the way.

    We’ll of course see what happens.

    Anyway, for the time being, Child said in a statement, "Groupon is one of the most amazing businesses I have ever seen.  I am thrilled to join a great team that is attacking one of the biggest opportunities in e-commerce today."

  • PayPal Names New CFO

    PayPal Names New CFO

    The service that provides eBay with a good chunk of its revenue now has a new chief financial officer.  eBay announced today that Patrick Dupuis, formerly of contact center outsourcing specialist Sitel, is taking the CFO position at PayPal.

    If that seems like an odd career path, the fact that BJC Healthcare, a nonprofit healthcare organization, employed Dupuis prior to Sitel may send your eyebrows even higher.  Dupuis did serve as CFO at both those outfits, however.

    Also, it may relieve some people to know that Dupuis spent about 20 years at GE, and managed to graduate from Ecole de management de Lyon earlier in life.

    Patrick DupuisSo on to the official line.  PayPal president Scott Thompson indicated in a statement, "Patrick’s varied experience and proven ability to lead in a fast-paced international environment make him a fantastic addition to our executive team as PayPal enters its next stage of growth."

    Dupuis himself then said, "I couldn’t be more delighted to join PayPal during this very important time in its history – with tremendous opportunity ahead.  With PayPal’s clear mission, customer-centric culture and fantastic team, the time has never been better to be a part of this company and help define the future of money."

    Dupuis replaces Mary Hentges, who gave up her job as PayPal’s CFO to join CBS Interactive at the end of August.

  • Yahoo’s CFO Pledges To Improve Buying/Selling Strategy

    Yahoo’s CFO Pledges To Improve Buying/Selling Strategy

    If you’ve ever heard about a Yahoo acquisition and thought that the price sounded excessive – or heard about a sale and thought the opposite – know that Yahoo’s CFO is aware of the problem.  Tim Morse recently indicated that the company is trying much harder to spend wisely.

    Tim MorseMorse told Brian Womack during an interview, "You’ve seen our track record on M&A with buying really high and selling pretty low.  We’ve got to be careful."  So from now on, when Yahoo considers buying a company, Morse stressed, "It’s got to have a business model, it’s got to fit into our strategy."

    And that strategy – or at least the goal it’s supposed to lead to – is an impressive one.  Morse wants to increase his company’s return on invested capital from five percent (which is all it achieved in 2009) to between 18 and 24 percent in 2013.

    The changes aren’t going to stop with what Yahoo buys and sells, either.  Its CFO said, "One of the big efforts in the company is to kind of change the culture, create more of a culture of efficiency."

    Yahoo’s shareholders appear to appreciate those assurances.  This morning, the company’s stock is up 1.29 percent, while Google and the Dow are up just 0.58 and 0.31 percent, respectively, and Microsoft and the Nasdaq are down.

  • Microsoft CFO Deems Large Acquisitions Unlikely

    Microsoft CFO Deems Large Acquisitions Unlikely

    If Microsoft makes any acquisitions in the next few months, don’t look for the term "billion" to be involved.  Even "___ hundred million" may be out of the question.  Microsoft’s CFO, Peter Klein, recently indicated that the corporation isn’t interested in spending lots of money.

    Microsoft LogoKlein hinted that most companies aren’t offering bargain-bin prices right now, and perhaps Microsoft’s still playing it safe following the recession, too.  "The stock market has clearly rebounded, so you sort of feel like you’re back to equilibrium," he said, according to Reuters.

    And whether Google’s purchase of AdMob goes through – or any other significant deals occur – Microsoft shouldn’t be baited into playing a game of catch-up.  Klein explained, "We try and think ahead, so that when things happen there is not this big fire drill – ‘Oh my God, somebody bought something."

    So Microsoft is likely to just focus on implementing its arrangement with Yahoo, then, while perhaps picking up a few small companies here and there until things have settled down.

    That seems like a wise approach.  Of course, to be fair to Microsoft’s detractors and competitors, Google’s buy-everything-in-sight method of conducting business has gotten it pretty far.

  • Google’s CFO: “It’s Been A Great Time For Us”

    Google’s CFO: “It’s Been A Great Time For Us”

    Patrick Pichette joined Google as its CFO on August 12, 2008, and since then, he’s seen the company through both good times (a stock price of $620 per share) and bad (try $262).  So Google fans should find it comforting that Pichette, with his range of experience, has said the company’s doing quite well again.

    Pichette spoke during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, and according to John Letzing, stated, "[T]he mood at Google kind of continues to be electric," which is certainly a positive sign.  Not that he’d admit to low morale, but using the term "electric" says a lot.

    The CFO then continued, "It’s true there is a recession out there, but for the broad data world, everything that’s the data space, there’s really no recession.  It’s been a great time for us in the last 12 months, 18 months."

    Pichette also shrugged off the idea that Google’s being anticompetitive, arguing that large companies are often scrutinized, and acknowledged that display ads, apps, and mobile have become increasingly important to the organization.

    Here’s the only catch: investors may or may not be impressed by all this, considering that Google’s stock is down a little in after-hours trading at $532.30.

  • Twitter Puts Pixar’s CFO On Payroll

    Twitter Puts Pixar’s CFO On Payroll

    Twitter’s at last found someone to be its chief financial officer, and the man appears to be more than qualified for the position.  Ali Rowghani actually comes to Twitter from Pixar, where he also held the title of CFO.

    Pixar is, of course, the popular animation studio responsible for movies like Toy Story, The Incredibles, and WALL-E.  Disney bought it in 2006 for $7.4 billion, and Rowghani was present at the time, having started at Pixar in 2001.

    Now, we’ll get to see what he can do with one of the Web’s more fashionable social sites.  But it’s important to note that the company’s COO has said Twitter’s not going public this year, and it’s also been a while since there have been any rumors concerning acquisitions.

    Then here’s one other interesting point: Rowghani might not be Twitter’s biggest fan, since as the screenshot below shows, he’s not what anyone would call a heavy user.

    Anyway, Rowghani should officially join Twitter in March, according to Reuters, and CEO Evan Williams said that they’re all concentrating on "creating value for our users and capturing the financial opportunities that result from it."