Almost exactly one month ago, the Yahoo Mobile Blog launched, and nine new posts have been made since, signaling that the company really is interested in mobile tech. Unfortunately, one of Yahoo’s mobile execs has decided to part ways with it at this juncture.
Mitch Lazar, Managing Director and General Manager of Yahoo Mobile Europe, is leaving Yahoo after about five years. According to Tricia Duryee, Lazar admitted in a message to some colleagues that he doesn’t know what he’ll do next, either, which makes the situation look rather worse for Yahoo.
Still, Lazar tried to portray Yahoo (along with himself) in a positive light. He wrote, "We didn’t have much of a business when I joined, but we now have over 100 mobile search and ad deals around the globe with the genesis of those beginning right here in the UK."
Lazar even said, "Between those and the distribution deals with Nokia and the OEMs we really created an exciting leadership position for the company."
There’s no word yet on who will replace Lazar within Yahoo. Given the way Carol Bartz has been trying to simplify the company, it’s possible we’ll just see some other execs’ responsibilities shuffled as a way of filling the hole.
UPDATE: A Yahoo representative was good enough to email WebProNews, and he wrote, "Mitch Lazar is leaving Yahoo! to pursue other opportunities and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. Rich Riley, SVP, Yahoo! Europe, is now responsible for Yahoo!’s mobile efforts across Europe."