Yahoo Interim CEO Ross Levinsohn Shakes Up Consumer Commerce Division As Thompson’s Hires Jump Ship

Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinsohn is wasting no time in dismantling the world completed by resigned CEO Scott Thompson. The company’s temporary boss rolled in Thompson’s newly created consumer commerce division which was operating on its own into the company’s global media force.

With Thompson out his own Paypal buddy Sam Shrauger is also leaving Yahoo. Shrauger had abandoned Paypal to oversee the consumer commerce division where he was ultimately partnered with Mollie Spilman. The move will mean Spilman takes over Penny Baldwin’s position as Yahoo’s chief marketing officer.

In the meantime Daniel Loeb, the investor and Yahoo shareholder who discovered Scott Thompson’s false resume claims is still fighting with Yahoo to replace four of its board members with personnel of his choosing.

Thompson continues to claim that the mistake was an “inadvertent error” which he blamed on a corporate headhunter who claims to have proof that the computer sciences degree was listed on the original resume someone working for Thompson sent to the headhunting firm.

While Scott Thompson originally created the consumer commerce division to infuse Yahoo with cash, Levinsohn says he has different plans for the company which he will reveal in less than one months time.

Levinsohn’s decisions will likely be watched closely by investors, after all this is the guy who in 2006 while running News Corp., Fox Interactive unit proclaims:

“We are certainly not paying $2 billion for Facebook.”

That’s not to say Levinsohn who has had his fair share of successes can’t successfully turn around Yahoo’s plummeting value, rather investors are sure to more closely follow his decisions in the digital space and publicly amplify any failures Yahoo experiences under his leadership.

In his first letter to Yahoo employees and investors Ross Levinsohn wrote:

“We have a lot to do. The most pressing thing I heard from you is the desire to clearly define our vision and strategy. I promise you we will be transparent and plan to articulate this in the coming weeks.”