Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

Exclusive: Yahoo Loses Associated Content’s Luke Beatty, as Restructuring Looms

In yet another high-level executive departure, top-level content exec Luke Beatty, the founder of the Associated Content unit that Yahoo bought several years ago for $90 million, is departing, according to sources.

Beatty’s move comes as the Silicon Valley Internet giant is preparing large-scale layoffs and a massive restructuring, which several sources said will begin mid-week.

It’s another blow for the company, given the entrepreneurial Beatty was the kind of exec that Yahoo desperately needs to keep if its media aspirations are to remain innovative.

While Associated Content — now called the Yahoo Contributor Network — has been integrated into the media offerings at Yahoo, other upcoming cuts in Beatty’s areas of management could be decimating.

The changes are due to a new initiative from new CEO Scott Thompson to turn Yahoo around after years of lackluster performance. The situation has been tense at the iconic company, made worse by an increasingly nasty proxy fight that is also looming.

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle