We haven’t seen a single story this quarter about former employees trying to upstage the big search engines. Nonetheless, we’ll bet Yahoo is thankful for whatever non-compete clauses are in place, as Bharath Kadaba, a VP of media engineering, and Rachel Glaser, a senior VP of operations finance, should soon depart.
It remains unclear when and why Kadaba and Glaser will leave; Kara Swisher, who broke the news, determined they’re not being thrown out immediately, at least. Still, it’s likely they were given a bit of a nudge, since Yahoo is under pressure to streamline its operations and improve its market share and profit margins.
Swisher notes, “[T]here have been yet another passel of high-level executive departures of late . . . Vice President and Editor in Chief of Yahoo! News, Finance, and Sports Neil Budde, Marketing VP David Riemer and VP Jennifer Dulski, who headed shopping, travel, autos, real estate and local.”
We’ve also watched as Andy Baio, Jacki Kelley, Joanna Stevens, and Cammie Dunaway have moved on.
Oh, well. This exodus might make Yahoo a lightly crewed wreck, but it could also turn the Sunnyvale-based entity into a slimmer, stronger company. Yahoo might even become a nicer place to work – Owen Thomas once received word that Glaser can be unpleasant, and added, “Rumor has [it] that former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel banned Glaser — like Semel, an air commuter from L.A. to Yahoo’s Sunnyvale HQ — from the corporate jet.”
