PayPal’s Scott Thompson Named CEO of Yahoo

By Paul Thomson :: 12:24 PM

Yahoo has named the 54-year-old president of PayPal, Scott Thompson, as its next CEO.

Thompson will take the helm of the struggling tech company on January 9th, and will immediately set to work addressing issues around its core online-advertising business, as well as finding a way to attract new talent to the one-time web superstar business.

In an analyst conference call, Thompson said that the company’s “core business assets are stronger here at Yahoo than people believe,” and that the technology and data that Yahoo has access to has the ability to provide better services to advertisers than the company has in the past.

Thompson will also focus on mobile devices at Yahoo, saying that “mobile is a wave that is bigger than people even imagine it to be. How people interact online has changed. Devices take all shapes and sizes. You’d better have a great experience on any device the customer has.”

Yahoo’s former CEO, Carol Bartz, was shown the door in September, after being unable to increase revenue during her tenure of two-and-a-half years.