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Tag: personnel

  • 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."

  • Facebook Plans Hiring Spree In Ireland

    Facebook Plans Hiring Spree In Ireland

    Any member of Facebook’s HR department who happens to be based in Ireland is going to have a busy year ahead of him (or her).  A new report’s indicated that Facebook intends to add 100 employees, thereby increasing the size of its Irish workforce by about 50 percent.

    Jemima Kiss wrote earlier today after speaking to Director of Online Operations Colm Long, "Facebook is to recruit another 100 staff in its Europe, the Middle East and Africa headquarters in Dublin over the next 12 months . . . expanding the current team of 200 international sales, finance and developer management staff."

    Those openings are sure to prove popular, given Facebook’s reputation as an employer and the gloomy economic situation in Ireland.  Not to mention the reputation of Ireland itself; it’s possible lots of people from other nations will want to move to the country.

    Anyway, it looks like a serious advertising push is set to take place at Facebook.  In addition to this new development, rumors indicated just last week that the company’s started renting some prestigious Madison Avenue office space in New York City.

    Also, Long told Kiss, "It’s hard to make predictions for Facebook, but there will be a lot of opportunities and we will be trying to grow those for this region.  We’ve built a reputation internally as a group that can solve complex problems and drive online revenue, so as the company rolls out new initiatives we will hopefully be at the forefront of their mind."

    Facebook first opened an office in Ireland in late 2007.

  • Google Tech Lead Moves On To LinkedIn

    Given Google’s hiring standards, it’s a decent bet that even the janitors have more coding ability than the developers at some other firms.  An impending personnel loss may be all that much worse for the search giant, then, as an employee with the title "Tech Lead" has decided to leave for LinkedIn.

    Today is Daniel Tunkelang’s last day at Google, he announced this morning.  A little background information: he was cofounder and chief scientist at Endeca, put in time at both IBM and AT&T, and picked up degrees at Carnegie Mellon and MIT earlier in life.

    Anyway, Tunkelang wrote on his blog today, "I am joining the data scientist team at LinkedIn, where I’ll be working with DJ Patil and his world-class team to build products and discover insights from a data collection that I have coveted for years."

    Then Tunkelang continued, "I’ll get to work with folks like Pete Skomoroch and Monica Rogati.  And I’ll get to tackle challenges in my favorite areas of computer science: information extraction, matching, recommendation, social network analysis, and network visualization.  Not to mention working with one of the largest faceted search deployments on the web!"

    This development counts as a big win for LinkedIn.  Luring an employee away from Google has always been quite a feat, and that’s even more the case following the recent round of bonuses and raises.

    Hat tip goes to Leena Rao.

  • Yahoo’s Mergers And Acquisitions Chief To Split

    The odds of Yahoo making any brilliant acquisitions in the near future – which were arguably already slim – appear set to decrease again.  A report’s indicated that Andrew Siegel, the head of corporate development (and therefore mergers and acquisitions) is leaving the company.

    Officially, Siegel’s departure hasn’t been confirmed.  But word comes courtesy of Kara Swisher, who’s almost always right about these matters.  And her anonymous source on this story might even have been Siegel himself, considering that he sought her out on Twitter a couple of weeks ago.

    Anyway, losing Siegel will not be a good thing for Yahoo.  On a very basic level, it’ll just be embarrassing, as the company’s seen a steady stream of execs and important people bail in recent months and years.

    Also, Siegel seemed to have a nose for attractive organizations, as Swisher reported, “Siegel has made some very prescient moves on game-changing companies for Yahoo to purchase – including Foursquare and Groupon – but Yahoo has not been able to land them for a variety of reasons.”

    It’s not yet known who will replace Siegel at Yahoo.  The company could have a tough time between picking someone in-house (and perhaps raising morale) or trying to find an outsider who might shake things up and pull off something unexpected.

  • Barry Diller Gives Up Role Of IAC CEO

    Barry Diller Gives Up Role Of IAC CEO

    Less than a month after IAC’s Ask.com announced its decision to stop competing in the search market, another major change is taking place as Barry Diller gives up the title "CEO of IAC."   Gregg Blatt, who previously served as CEO of Match.com, will replace Diller.

    Diller, an industry legend, isn’t leaving the company, in any event; he’ll now act as "Chairman and Senior Executive."  Also, Diller intends to purchase enough stock over the next nine months to increase his voting share to more than 40 percent, so it’s not like he’ll be an important figure in name only.

    Diller just explained in a statement, "It’s been clear to me for some time that this Company needs a full time aggressive and aspirational executive in the CEO role.  While I’m not going anywhere, IAC, with its operating businesses growing, large cash resources and virtually no debt, needs the kind of leadership that Greg Blatt can bring it in order to continue to grow and thrive many years into the future."

    So back to Blatt.  Blatt became CEO of Match.com in early 2009, and the site experienced record growth under his supervision.  Before that, he served as executive vice president, general counsel, and a member of the Office of the Chairman at IAC, and put in some time at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, too.

    Blatt said with regards to his promotion, "I couldn’t be more excited about the new position and the opportunities in front of IAC."

  • Microsoft Names Principal Architect Of Bing Mobile

    A man who fostered a great reputation in the geospatial community by founding OpenStreetMap, "a free editable map of the whole world," has started working for Microsoft.  The company announced today that Steve Coast will assume the impressive title "Principal Architect of Bing Mobile."

    We should note right here: this development doesn’t mean Coast is turning his back on OpenStreetMap or the geo community in general.  As part of the deal, Coast apparently made sure that Microsoft will be allowing access to its global orthorectified aerial imagery.

    Also, a post on the Bing Maps Blog explained, "As a Principal Architect for Bing Mobile, Steve will help develop better mapping experiences for our customers and partners, and lead efforts to engage with OpenStreetMap and other open source and open data projects."

    open maps images

    So it looks like this move is going to benefit Bing, Bing’s users, and people who prefer to steer clear of legal and technical restrictions when it comes to mapping.  Along with Coast himself, presumably.

    Coast wrote on his blog today, "[I’m] super excited to tell you that I’ve accepted a position as Principal Architect at Bing Mobile and am moving to the Seattle, Washington area to work on maptastic things!  Yay!"

  • Twitter To Add European Employees Next Year

    It looks like a whole new push to gain users, attract advertisers, or do both will soon get underway at Twitter.  The company’s confirmed that it’ll have employees based in Europe starting sometime next year.

    Unfortunately, not a lot more details are available right now.  We don’t know, for example, if this development will increase Twitter’s fast-growing headcount by just a few individuals, or if a whole new platoon of people will join the team.  Or if something will happen as soon as January or as late as December.

    Martin Bryant just reported, "Twitter tells us today that it plans to have a small number of people ‘on the ground’ in Europe in 2011.  The company is currently researching locations and potential candidates to fill the roles."

    Still, regardless of who’s hired, when they’re hired, and where they live, this is sure to count as a significant step in Twitter’s history.  Hiring staff in a country (and continent) other than the one in which it was created means the company sees itself as ready to expand in a big way.

    Twitter LogoThe move signals that Twitter’s doing well enough in a financial sense, too, if there was any doubt about that.

    We’ll be sure to keep an eye out for further updates on this subject.

  • Open Positions At Google Top 2,000 In Number

    As of September 30th, Google had 23,331 full-time employees, and that’s an impressive number, considering the company had just 21,805 full-time workers three months earlier.  But now the number’s set to jump again, as Google is looking to hire an additional 2,000 or so new employees.

    Reuters thought to tally the number of positions listed on the search giant’s jobs site yesterday, and Alexei Oreskovic reported afterward, "The world’s largest Internet search engine, whose finance chief told investors in September that the Internet industry was waging a ‘war for talent,’ has job openings listed for 2,076 positions . . ."

    Oreskovic then noted, "The number of job openings is up nearly six-fold from a similar tally of job listings page conducted in March 2009."

    This is sure to create a stir in the tech community.  It’s hard to imagine how many individuals, whether they’re unemployed or just interested in greener pastures, are already ordering muffin baskets to be sent to Google’s HR managers.  Googlers will probably be neck-deep in them before long.

    As for how Google’s competitors may respond, it seems some loyalty-enhancing efforts are likely.  Think bonuses, raises, and/or Google-y perks like free food and 20 percent time for the sake of not seeing their best employees leave.

    Anyway, good luck if you decide to toss your hat in the figurative ring.

  • Significant Yahoo Layoffs Rumored

    Significant Yahoo Layoffs Rumored

    At a time when people should be decorating their offices in a festive manner, it seems that a large number of Yahoo employees will instead have to carry away their belongings in cardboard boxes.  Multiple sources indicate that Yahoo intends to conduct another round of layoffs in December.

    Indeed, it’s almost certain at this point that layoffs will occur.  The big question is how many people will be affected.  Michael Arrington, who broke the story, claimed that 20 percent of Yahoo’s employees – or around 2,500 individuals – will get cut, and he stuck by that figure even after Yahoo called it "misleading and inaccurate."

    Kara Swisher, meanwhile, wrote, "[T]he layoffs . . . will be closer to 10 percent and be almost completely centered on the product organization under Chief Product Officer Blake Irving, said sources close to the situation. . . .  That would mean layoffs of about 650, since that part of Yahoo has about 6,500 employees."

    So we’ll see what happens.

    YahooEither way, though, it looks like the company is preparing to slim down quite a bit.  And although that should save Yahoo some money, investors don’t appear too excited about the idea, given that Yahoo’s stock has fallen 1.58 percent so far today.

    In comparison, the Dow and Nasdaq are only down 0.79 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively.

  • Google India To Hire “Hundreds Of Engineers”

    Google India’s HR managers may be in for a hectic time.  Days after Google announced $1,000 bonuses and ten percent raises for all the company’s workers, a high-ranking employee has committed to hiring at least 200 engineers in the country.

    Peeyush Ranjan, Google India’s head of research and development, told the Economic Times, "Between Google Bangalore and Hyderabad, we have a team of about 300 engineers working on the cloud technologies.  This is the largest cloud focused team for the company outside [the] U.S.  Now, in order to cater to the growing market opportunities, we are preparing to hire hundreds of engineers into this team."

    That’s quite a commitment.  What’s more, other reports indicate Google intends to double the number of engineers it has in India, so that would mean a whopping 300 new jobs.

    It’s fun to think of how many emails, muffin baskets, and bouquets are sure to get sent as people vie for the positions.

    GoogleThen one other thing to consider is what sort of growth the move implies.  Granted, Google had 23,331 full-time employees as of September 30th, so another 300 isn’t a lot in the scheme of things, but adding that many employees to one team signals an intense increase in focus.

    It may not be unreasonable to expect some significant cloud-related advances to come out of Google India as a result.

  • Yahoo Names New North American Ad Sales Head

    Yahoo’s ad sales in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada may soon take off. That’s the idea, at least, as Yahoo announced this afternoon that it’s hired Wayne Powers, a Time Inc. Media Group exec, to act as Senior Vice President, North American Advertising Sales.

    Wayne PowersPowers come to Yahoo with an impressive track record. At one point, he worked for food industry heavyweights Nestle and Dole. Later, he joined Time, and worked his way up through sales to head the Media Networks Inc. and Targeted Media divisions, eventually creating the Time Digital Network.

    (more…)

  • Google Arranges 10% Raises, $1,000 Bonuses For All Employees

    The next time you drink, eat, or maybe buy new furniture in the company of a Googler, consider letting him or her pick up the tab. Leaked info indicates that everyone at Google will get at least a 10 percent raise and a (post-tax) $1,000 bonus as part of an employee retention effort.

    Credit goes to Henry Blodget for obtaining an internal memo sent by Eric Schmidt to the entire Google workforce. In it, Schmidt wrote, “[W]e believe we have the best employees in the world. Period. The brightest, most capable group of this size ever assembled. It’s why I’m excited to come to work every day–and I’m sure you feel the same way.”

    Later, Schmidt continued, “So that is why we’ve decided…to give all of you a 10% raise, effective January 1st. . . . There’s more. We’ve heard from your feedback on Googlegeist and other surveys that salary is more important to you than any other component of pay (i.e., bonus and equity). To address that, we’re moving a portion of your bonus into your base salary, so now it’s income you can count on, every time you get your paycheck. . . . And one last thing…today we’re announcing that everyone will get a holiday cash bonus, too.” (more…)

  • Yahoo’s CIO Out

    For the sake of its image, if nothing else, Yahoo would no doubt like to slow or stop the constant flow of departing employees.  But it looks like the stream is as steady as ever, with an especially central person – the company’s CIO – leaving this week.

    One mitigating factor: Michael Kirwan didn’t spend an especially long time at Yahoo, with his stint just starting in July of last year.

    Also, we should note that Kirwan previously worked for VeriSign, which is perhaps less impressive and relevant in the search and advertising industry than employment at Microsoft, Google, or a number of other organizations.

    Still, Kirwan was important.  Kara Swisher reported that his corporate bio gave him "global responsibility for Yahoo!’s Corporate Systems group, which includes the IT Infrastructure, Corporate Applications, CRM and Premium Services Infrastructure teams."

    YahooSwisher also noted, "Kirwan reported to David Dibble, EVP of Service Engineering & Operations at Yahoo."

    In any event, there’s no word yet on who will replace Kirwan at Yahoo.  We’ll be sure to report if/when that changes.

  • Twitter Hires Adam Sharp As D.C. Liaison

    Politicians who don’t use Twitter may soon receive a visit from Adam Sharp.  Sharp announced this afternoon that he’s been hired by Twitter to represent the company in Washington, D.C.

    We first discussed this position when Twitter put up a job posting in early June, and it doesn’t look like the role’s changed much since.  Sharp’s duties should involve promoting Twitter more than shaping government policy to favor it or anything like that.

    Adam SharpSharp, who’s worked for C-SPAN, NBC, and Senator Mary Landrieu, hinted at this today by tweeting, "Leaving @cspan soon to join @Twitter and help government better communicate w/constituents. Excited to @JoinTheFlock!"

    Sharp also wrote, "Look fwd to working w/learning from #gov20 community & others committed to enhancing civic debate by bringing govt, people closer together."

    Still, however hands-off his approach, this development does signal some big changes at Twitter.  It’s joining Facebook and Google in the "tech companies with D.C. staffers" club, and making a special effort to introduce influential people to its site.

    Sharp’s first official day on the job will be November 29th.  Longwinded and/or technophobic politicians, look out.

  • YouTube CEO Hurley To Step Down

    YouTube CEO Hurley To Step Down

    A change in leadership will soon take place at the site Google bought for $1.65 billion.  While speaking at a conference in Ireland, YouTube cofounder and CEO Chad Hurley announced that he’ll step down and assume an advisory role.

    Hurley was the last of YouTube’s cofounders to have close ties to the organization, and it’s not every day that a CEO operating at this level gives up his position, which makes the change significant.  In all honesty, though, this development may not be as exciting as it sounds.

    There’s no reason to believe Hurley’s being forced out, for example, since he’s been more than happy to let Googler Salar Kamangar run things for several years.  There’s no reason to believe Hurley’s bailing, either, since the terms of the Google-YouTube deal released him a long time ago.

    Chad HurleyAccording to Lisa O’Carroll, Hurley just said at the F.ounders (not a typo) conference, "Right now I am in the process of transitioning into the role of adviser, stepping down, still being involved in the company but it’s given me an opportunity to work on new projects."

    Hurley also complimented Kamangar, who appears to be the obvious choice in terms of replacing him if Google decides to keep the CEO position.

    It should be interesting to see where the cofounder of YouTube lands next.

  • Buzz Names Ross Levinsohn As New Yahoo Exec

    A man with a very interesting history when it comes to social media and tech investments may soon be brought in to replace a high-ranking exec at Yahoo.  Rumor has it Hilary Schneider, EVP, Americas Region will step aside in order to make room for Ross Levinsohn.

    Remember Levinsohn?  He used to work for Fox Interactive Media, and is credited with making the then-smart decision to purchase MySpace.  Plus, more recently, he’s been involved with some venture funds, perhaps gaining exposure to important up-and-coming companies.

    In any event, Kara Swisher reported earlier today, "While the deal is not completely struck, sources said Levinsohn is very close to taking the job. . . .  Sources added, if he does, he is likely to remain living in Los Angeles, where he has long been located."

    YahooSwisher also wrote, "It’s likely Yahoo will hire a major ad sales exec to work under Levinsohn, and sources said the company has been in contact with several prominent execs to fill the slot left open with the March departure of Joanne Bradford to Demand Media."

    So look for big and potentially exciting changes to occur at Yahoo in the near future.

    Goodness knows Carol Bartz needs to stir up more enthusiasm, given all the recent talk about replacing her.

    UPDATE: Levinsohn’s new role is official now.

  • Twitter Celebrates Hiring Of 300th Full-Time Employee

    Any Twitter historians out there may want to mark today on their calendars as a milestone of sorts.  This afternoon, the company announced that it’s hired its 300th full-time employee.

    To provide a rough timeline documenting Twitter’s growth: it supposedly had 22 employees at the start of 2009, 110 at the start of 2010, 140 as of February 14th, and 205 as of June 4th.

    Please note that we emphasize the words "rough" and "supposedly" here – there’s been some confusion about the full-time/part-time split – but the company’s execs have in any event allowed themselves to be quoted on these numbers.

    Now it seems certain that Twitter’s hit the 300-employee mark, too, and judging from the call for people to "JoinTheFlock," the company’s still hiring.

    These details may signal that Twitter’s quite healthy and probably far from needing another round of funding.  Or they could hint that it’s healthy and knows it has more cash on the way.

    Feel free to place your bets in the comments section.  Regardless, things are looking good for Twitter right now.

  • Google Names Susan Wojcicki SVP

    Susan Wojcicki is an important figure in Google’s history for all sorts of reasons, which we’ll run through in a moment.  But it looks like she’ll play an important role in its future, too, as word has come that Wojcicki was named a senior vice president yesterday.

    A little background info: Wojcicki is the person who rented her garage to Larry and Sergey when they were in the process of founding Google.  She later became Google employee number 18, and managed to create everything from Google Doodles to AdSense over the years.

    One more interesting point: Wojcicki became Sergey’s sister-in-law when he married her younger sister, Anne, in 2007.

    As for the latest development, Claire Cain Miller reported, "Ms. Wojcicki has been named a senior vice president, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, announced on Monday in a memo to Google employees. . . .  She was formerly a vice president, of which there are dozens at Google.  She joins eight other senior vice presidents."

    Miller then added, "Ms. Wojcicki’s day-to-day job will remain the same, overseeing all Google advertising products, including AdWords, AdSense and DoubleClick."

     

  • 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.

  • Digg CEO Announces Big Layoffs

    Digg CEO Announces Big Layoffs

    Six weeks after becoming Digg’s CEO, Matt Williams has made a tough call.  Williams announced today that he intends to lay off 37 percent of the organization’s employees in an effort to keep Digg out of the red.

    On the Digg About blog, Williams explained, "The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high.  We must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011.  We’ve considered all of the possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs.  The result is that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I’ve made the decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people."

    This is a scary sign for Digg (and Digg fans), as that’s a big cut and almost bound to have a significant effect on something.  It’s unlikely that 25 employees held the title "pencil sharpener," after all.

    One important note is that everyone affected by the move should have some help getting another job, though.  Williams pledged, "I’m personally committed to help find new opportunities for everyone affected by the transition.  Digg’s Board members have also offered to help find placements within their portfolio companies."

    And losing 37 percent of its employees should allow Digg to save quite a lot of money, so it’s perhaps not time to order a virtual tombstone for the company just yet.

    Williams wrote, "Let’s please use today to show our sincere appreciation for our friends and colleagues who will be moving on.  Tomorrow, we’ll go forward with a new strategy for Digg."

  • Mozilla Introduces Gary Kovacs As New CEO

    There will soon be a new general (or even supreme commander) in the browser war.  Mozilla announced today that Gary Kovacs, who’s currently employed by SAP, will assume the title of "Mozilla CEO" starting November 8th.

    Kovacs has an impressive resume.  Aside from SAP, he’s worked at Sybase, Adobe, Macromedia, Zi Corporation, and IBM, meaning he’s familiar with lots of tech and the inner workings of companies large and small.

    Gary KovacsWhat’s more, Kovacs has the support of both John Lilly (Mozilla’s current CEO, who announced in May that he’d be resigning) and Mitchell Baker (Mozilla’s CEO before Lilly and longstanding chairperson).

    Lilly wrote in a blog post, "[Kovacs] understands that Mozilla is a unique organization, with unusual strengths and weaknesses, and really embraces that difference.  But he’s also ready and able to help us do more with what we’ve built, and deliver even more towards Mozilla’s mission of making the Web more participatory and more open."

    Mitchell agreed on a separate blog, "A number of people were involved in the search process.  We talked to a lot of people, and Gary stands out for the way he bridges these skill sets.  He melds the fundamentals of a good executive with a powerful understanding that Mozilla’s non-profit, public benefit mission drives everything we do . . ."

    For the record, no one representing Chrome or IE seems to have responded yet.