It’s newspaper day at Media Week so the Yahoo-consortium deal is likely to come up quite a bit .., after a session focusing considerably on Yahoo HotJobs and the other possibilities, I asked Lee Enterprises CEO Mary Junck about the possible effect of the changes at Yahoo on the deal’s rollout. Her take based on initial press coverage: It will either be positive or have no affect. She noted CFO Sue Decker’s role in negotiating the consortium deal and her appearance on the announceent conference call; Decker now will head all advertising sales for Yahoo.
Update: Belo CEO Robert Decherd had roughly the same reponse, mentioning Decker’s involvement in senior-level negotiations and his belief in Yahoo’s commitment to the deal: “They need to put a W on the board.” Decherd and Junck each expressed confidence as long as Decker, Hilary Schneider, who recently joined Yahoo as SVP-Marketplaces (and worked with Junck in Baltimore), and HotJobs EVP & GM Dan Finnigan are involved.