Yahoo has confirmed the appointment of Jim Lanzone as its new CEO from 27 September. He will succeed Guru Gowrappan, the former Verizon executive who has headed the operations since 2018. Gowrappan will become a senior adviser to Apollo’s private-equity business, after Apollo Global Management bought Verizon Media in May and rebranded it Yahoo.
Lanzone joins Yahoo from Tinder, where he served as CEO. He earlier led the digital operations of CBS as chief digital officer and CEO of CBS Interactive. He joined CBS after its acquisition of Clicker Media in 2011, where he was co-founder and CEO. From 2001 to 2008, he served in different executive roles at search engine Ask.com, including as CEO after the company’s acquisition by IAC/InterActiveCorp. Lanzone is also a member of the board of directors of GoPro.
Lanzone joins Yahoo as it looks to accelerate the growth of its properties as a privately held company backed by Apollo. Yahoo said it intends to invest significantly into user experience and develop new offerings that will build on its premier brands in sports, finance, news and technology. The properties and services of Yahoo, which owns AOL, have about 900 million monthly active users.
