A top Yahoo executive who oversees the Web portal’s home page and various channels like video and news is leaving after five years at company, he said on Twitter Friday.
Senior Vice President Mike Kerns, who joined Yahoo in 2010 through the acquisition of sports fan site Citizen Sports, had played a major role in the still-ongoing turnaround effort under CEO Marissa Mayer. He first served as vice president of social and personalization before switching to his latest role, in which he handled redesigns of the service’s home page in 2012 and 2013.
Although Kerns joined prior to Mayer’s arrival in 2012, the two reportedly got along well until recently, according to Business Insider. A report by The Information earlier this week said that Mayer was reorganizing Yahoo’s top ranks, and shifted some of Kerns’ responsibilities to Simon Khalaf, previously CEO of mobile analytics company Flurry, which Yahoo acquired in 2014 for north of $200 million, and mobile products leader Adam Cahan.
Kerns had considered resigning in 2013, according to Business Insider, but chose to stay after Mayer promoted and gave him additional responsibilities over a big part of the company’s media products. However, the reorganization suggests that he may have fallen out of favor.
Kerns will stay at Yahoo (YHOO) through the end of April to help with internal transitions.
Under Mayer, Yahoo is trying to reinvent itself amid slow growth and repeated failures to capitalize on big shifts in the Internet industry including search, social networking and mobile. Now nearly three years into her tenure, she faces stiff investor skepticism but a big pot of money from the company’s investments in Asia including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA).
