Report: Yahoo’s SVP Of Revenue To Quit

Joanne Bradford started at Yahoo about a year and a half ago, assuming the title "Senior Vice President, U.S. Revenue and Market Development."  Now, a fresh report's indicated that the high-ranking exec is on her way out again, ready to take a position at Demand Media.

Kara Swisher wrote earlier, "According to several sources . . . Bradford is planning on leaving the Internet giant to take a new position as Chief Revenue Officer of online content upstart Demand Media."  And Swisher (and her sources) are usually spot-on about these things.

Yahoo's likely being dealt a major blow, then, considering what an important role Bradford plays at the company.  While almost all departures have theoretical financial repercussions - you have to figure everyone contributes to the bottom line in some way - Bradford's position over ad sales means she has a direct influence.

Also, Bradford's resume suggests that she's good at her job, having spent time at Microsoft, Spot Runner, and BusinessWeek before heading to Yahoo.

Still, this development doesn't have to represent a complete disaster for Yahoo.  As you might have guessed after reading the last paragraph, Bradford doesn't always stay in one place for too long - she only spent about seven months at SpotRunner, for example - so her move may not say much about Yahoo's situation.

UPDATE: Yahoo responded to a question sent via email by stating, "Joanne Bradford has decided to leave Yahoo! to pursue a new opportunity. Joanne will be working with the team over the coming weeks to enable a smooth transition."

Google Hires XML Co-Inventor

Today, Tim Bray started working for Google, and had the search giant just put out a one-sentence press release stating this fact, the development would be worth reporting.  But what makes this move especially noteworthy is that Bray announced it in a 1,260-word blog post mentioning an absolute hatred of the iPhone.

Bray is a rather important person in a lot of tech circles.  Two interesting details regarding his accomplishments: he's the co-inventor of XML, and spent several years serving on the W3C Technical Architecture Group.

Here's what the respected developer had to say about the iPhone, though: "The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet's future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what.  It's a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord's pleasure and fear his anger. . . .  I hate it."

In turn, Bray's a huge fan of Google's mobile operating system.  He wrote, "The reason I'm here is mostly Android.  Which seems to me about as unambiguously a good thing as the tangled wrinkly human texture of the Net can sustain just now."

So it looks like the Android-iPhone war is about to get a lot more fierce.  Although for what it's worth, Bray was careful to say that his opinions don't necessarily reflect his new employer's stance on anything.

Facebook To Position Public Policy Experts In D.C.

It looks like Facebook will soon begin trying harder to bend the ears of our nation's leaders.  Listings for a public policy manager and public policy associate have both been posted on the social network's "Open Positions" page, and Facebook's decided that these people will work in Washington, D.C.

This isn't a simple matter of having a couple of folks sit around, answering questions and maybe defending the company when necessary.  Facebook wants the new hires to be quite active.

The public policy manager will be expected to "monitor legislative and regulatory matters at the state governmental level, participate in federal policy discussions, and lead company's interactions with consumer organizations," according to the official listing.  He (or she) is supposed to "[b]uild coalitions to advance policy goals of Facebook," too.

As for the associate, this individual is meant to attend Congressional Committees, deal with nonprofits, and help with Facebook's "election and voter action activities," whatever those may be.  Plus have a sense of humor that his or her boss isn't required to possess.

Anyway, Cecilia Kang, who deserves a hat tip, noted, "Those jobs would bring Facebook's staff in Washington to five.  It recently hired journalist Andrew Noyes for public policy communications and Tim Sparapani from the ACLU, who is now director of public policy.  Adam Conner began the office and deals with lobbying and policy issues including privacy."

Facebook To Position Public Policy Experts In D.C.

It looks like Facebook will soon begin trying harder to bend the ears of our nation's leaders.  Listings for a public policy manager and public policy associate have both been posted on the social network's "Open Positions" page, and Facebook's decided that these people will work in Washington, D.C.

This isn't a simple matter of having a couple of folks sit around, answering questions and maybe defending the company when necessary.  Facebook wants the new hires to be quite active.

The public policy manager will be expected to "monitor legislative and regulatory matters at the state governmental level, participate in federal policy discussions, and lead company's interactions with consumer organizations," according to the official listing.  He (or she) is supposed to "[b]uild coalitions to advance policy goals of Facebook," too.

As for the associate, this individual is meant to attend Congressional Committees, deal with nonprofits, and help with Facebook's "election and voter action activities," whatever those may be.  Plus have a sense of humor that his or her boss isn't required to possess.

Anyway, Cecilia Kang, who deserves a hat tip, noted, "Those jobs would bring Facebook's staff in Washington to five.  It recently hired journalist Andrew Noyes for public policy communications and Tim Sparapani from the ACLU, who is now director of public policy.  Adam Conner began the office and deals with lobbying and policy issues including privacy."

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