Jon Miller new CEO of Yahoo?
Was just asked by a blogger what I thought about Kara Swishers report that Jon Miller, and his partner in crime Ross Levinsohn, might be taking over Yahoo. Big disclaimer: I’m completely biased obviously since Jon Miller is a mentor, bought my last company, invested in my current company and sits on its board.
Jon Miller would be amazing for Yahoo because he is extremely good at building display advertising businesses and buying young startups. Remember, when they let him go he was coming off back to back 40%+ gain quarters in advertising revenue–second only to Google (and well ahead of Yahoo). His biggest strength at AOL–in my mind–was buying promising startups and giving them tons of support, no red tape, and breathing room. Yahoo needs new blood and a focus on display advertising, with Ross at his side you would have a very potent operator and M&A team.
Yahoo’s best strategy right now is probably to build display advertising while buying and growing promising startups. Yahoo needs growth, Jon and Ross are growth guys (i.e. MySpace, Advertising.com, Weblogs, Inc, etc). As a bonus you have hundreds of VP/SVP/EVP level executives out there who are loyal to Jon and Ross, so you might see a talent influx with them at the helm, and talent wins.
