Industry Moves
Interview: Yahoo’s Khemlani Explains His Move To Hearst As CEO’s Top Digital Advisor
Another major change at the Yahoo Media Group: Yahoo News head Neeraj Khemlani is leaving Santa Monica for New York and the Hearst Corporation, where he will hold a new position as VP and digital media special assistant to CEO Frank A. Bennack, Jr. The news was first reported at AllThingsD as Khemlani was breaking the news today to his staff, which has already gone through considerable transition in recent months and faces both a group and a corporate reorg. Khemlani was supposed to be a key part of the YMG reorg now underway and his departure likely leaves a big TBD in that slot instead.
I spoke with Khemlani soon after about his plans at Hearst and his reasons for leaving Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). He said his timing and his decision had little to do with the reorg: “It wasn’t coordinated other than I wanted to make sure I didn’t sign up for something I couldn’t commit to.” He said later, “I fully buy into all the major transformations going on right now.” (without providing any details about those changes, which reportedly include splitting programming from product development.) As for leaving, he credits “an incredible offer and commission to work for the CEO of Hearst’’—what he calls “a wild opportunity.”
First, a little back story: Khemlani, 38, joined Yahoo from CBS (NYSE: CBS) and 60 Minutes in 2006, holding a variety of posts including VP of programming and development. He was promoted to VP and GM of Yahoo News last November when Alan Warms left; that’s also when Yahoo Media head Scott Moore left and was succeeded by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) vet Jeff Dossett. (As our regular readers know, Moore is now succeeding Dossett at Microsoft.)
So what will Khemlani do at Hearst? Let’s start with what he isn’t doing—taking over all digital operations. Khemlani: “Every single part of Hearst has digital components. I’m working for the CEO, helping him coordinate activities all across the company, providing myself as a resource for every division that wants to pick my brain over what I’ve seen and learned over the years. ... I came from the old world, learned the new language and came back.” He describes the new post as horizontal.
Why now for Hearst? When I suggested that this sounds like the kind of job media companies set up five years ago—an advisor to the CEO on digital—Khemlani replied: “It’s a very different time than five years ago. We’re at an interesting tipping point right now, watching old media companies tasting (digital) success—you have the networks with Hulu, CNN partnering with Facebook on the inauguration ... . We’re seeing a reemergence of content driving value. A lot of companies have learned what works, what doesn’t work and can now make some big bets.”
Still working with Yahoo: Hearst already partners with Yahoo on a number of projects, including the Newspaper Consortium, so it’s not like he is completely stepping away. Khemlani: “We’re all going to be working in this small world anyway.”
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Feb 23, 2009 3:01 PM ET
Posted In: Industry Moves, Companies, Hearst, Yahoo, neeraj khemlani
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