Jim Lanzon replaces Guru Gorappan, who has led Verizon’s media business since 2018 and is now named senior advisor to Apollo’s private equity business.
Yahoo on Friday named dating app Tinder boss Jim Lanzon as its chief executive officer, just days after Apollo Global Management Inc completed its purchase of the online media company from Verizon Communications Inc.
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Apollo closed on 1 September Its $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media and changed its name to Yahoo after Verizon’s iconic digital brand. AOL, TechCrunch, Makers, Riot and Flurry were some of the other brands under the Verizon Media umbrella.
Apollo is looking to grow offerings such as Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports through new business initiatives, including subscriptions, focusing on advertising and e-commerce platforms.
Separately, Tinder’s parent Match Group Inc. named Renate Nyborg as the dating app’s CEO, to replace Lanzone.
Nyborg, who served as Tinder’s general manager in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, is also the first woman to take the job since Tinder was founded in 2012.
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Scott Kessler, an analyst at investment research firm Third Bridge, said Lanzone is a good fit for Yahoo, given his tenure with CBS Interactive where he oversaw the digital media brands and growth of the company’s streaming services, including CBS All Access. carried forward.
“They have done this before and even though the stakes are very high, Apollo and other investors want to see value from it.”
Yahoo.com, which recently competed with big players including Google and Facebook, is one of the top five most visited websites in the United States and among the top 20 in the world, Alexa Internet, a web According to the traffic analysis firm.
Lanzon replaces Guru Gorappan, who has led Verizon’s media business since 2018 and is now named senior advisor to Apollo’s private equity business.
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