Tue Jul 19,11:16 AM ET
Yahoo Inc.'s efforts to boost its media and entertainment offering face snags as several media group heads are leaving or choosing not to move to new Los Angeles-area offices, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper said that, according to Yahoo, of the company's eight media division general managers, three heading Yahoo finance, sports, and movies and television units have decided to leave the Sunnyvale, California-based company.
Three other division heads have declined to relocate to Southern California from Silicon Valley and so are leaving their current posts, taking other jobs at the company, the Journal added.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the management turnover partly reflected some internal discontent about the management style of Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of the entertainment division at Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS - news) ABC network.
Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel hired Braun late last year to invigorate the media group.
The Journal said Braun declined to comment, but quoted a Yahoo spokeswoman as saying the criticism of Braun "doesn't represent the general consensus among the group."
Joanna Stevens, a Yahoo spokeswoman, said the tone of the Journal's article was inaccurate as the management changes were part of a wider effort to strengthen the media division's leadership.
"We've chosen to initiate some changes to substantially upgrade our management team to take on opportunities," she said. Yahoo is scheduled to report second-quarter results later on Tuesday.
Yahoo Inc.'s efforts to boost its media and entertainment offering face snags as several media group heads are leaving or choosing not to move to new Los Angeles-area offices, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper said that, according to Yahoo, of the company's eight media division general managers, three heading Yahoo finance, sports, and movies and television units have decided to leave the Sunnyvale, California-based company.
Three other division heads have declined to relocate to Southern California from Silicon Valley and so are leaving their current posts, taking other jobs at the company, the Journal added.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper said the management turnover partly reflected some internal discontent about the management style of Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of the entertainment division at Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS - news) ABC network.
Yahoo (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel hired Braun late last year to invigorate the media group.
The Journal said Braun declined to comment, but quoted a Yahoo spokeswoman as saying the criticism of Braun "doesn't represent the general consensus among the group."
Joanna Stevens, a Yahoo spokeswoman, said the tone of the Journal's article was inaccurate as the management changes were part of a wider effort to strengthen the media division's leadership.
"We've chosen to initiate some changes to substantially upgrade our management team to take on opportunities," she said. Yahoo is scheduled to report second-quarter results later on Tuesday.
