—IAC: Post-split, current IAC (NSDQ: IACI) COO Doug Lebda will get the tough appointment as CEO of the company’s Financial Services and Real Estate businesses, i.e. LendingTree.com. This is the first of the company’s announcements about who will be in charge of each unit. Release.

— Discovery Communications: Mark Hollinger is being promoted to COO, according to the Washington Post. Hollinger headed international operations—about one-third of Discovery’s revenue,  handled the closing of Discovery’s retail chain last year and helped reduce staffing by about 25 percent. CEO David Zaslav told WaPo the Discovery vet has been acting as de facto COO for the past year, Zaslav’s first at the network. One note: he raised the margin of the international unit by moving some execs overseas. The official announcement is expected Thursday.

—Sony (NYSE: SNE) Pictures: Former Warner Bros. Entertainment tech chief Christopher J. Cookson has been appointed to the new post of president for Sony Pictures Technologies, charged with developing and implementing the studio’s digital activities. His role includes coordinating Sony Pictures’ tech policies with other Sony Corp. units. In addition to his position as CTO at Warner Bros. Entertainment, Cookson was president of the company’s Technical Operations Division. Before that, he held executive posts at CBS (NYSE: CBS) and ABC. Release

—GoFish.com: Jim Moloshok, former president of HBO Digital Initiatives and SVP of Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Entertainment, joins as executive chairman of the youth-oriented online video company. The role is something of an in-house consultant who will help direct the San Francisco company’s strategic plans and advise its executive management team. In addition to his stints at HBO and Yahoo, Moloshok also worked on Warner Brothers’ digital entertainment businesses. Release

—Yahoo/Google: Steve Souders, Chief Performance Officer at Yahoo, moves to Google (NSDQ: GOOG) effective Jan. 7. Souders had been at Yahoo since 2000 working on many of the platforms and products within the company, including running the development team for MyYahoo.

—NHL: Larry Gelfand, till now the VP of digital sales at VH1, has joined the NHL as SVP of media sales.

—Turner Sports: William Funk has been promoted by Turner Sports to SVP of sports sponsorships and sales. Additionally, Funk will manage the integration of online and TV aspects of the networks’ sports holdings, including the NBA, NASCAR, MLB and professional golf, plus the digital assets of NASCAR.com, PGATour.com and PGA.com.