NEW YORK: Yahoo has named dating app Tinder’s boss Jim Lanzone as its new chief executive officer.
This move comes just days after Apollo Global Management completed its purchase of the online media company from Verizon Communications.
On September 1, Apollo closed its $5 billion acquisition of Verizon Media and renamed it Yahoo after Verizon’s iconic digital brand. AOL, TechCrunch, Makers, Ryot and Flurry were some of the other brands under the Verizon Media umbrella.
“With his experience and proven management skills, we are confident Jim is the right leader to steward Yahoo through a transformational new phase that can leverage the best of Yahoo’s platform and performance to reach new heights,” said Yahoo Chairman and Apollo Partner Reed Rayman in a press release.
Yahoo added that it will “invest significantly in the user experience and develop exciting new offerings that can build on its premier brands in sports, finance, news, technology and more.”
Lanzone has been the CEO of Tinder for about a year and helped revamp the popular dating app during his tenure. Previously, he led digital operations at CBS for about a decade and has also held executive roles at IAC.
Apollo is looking to grow offerings such as Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Sports through new business initiatives including subscriptions, while also focusing on advertising and ecommerce platforms. read more
Separately, Match Group, the parent of Tinder, named Renate Nyborg as CEO of the dating app to replace Lanzone.
Nyborg, who served as Tinder’s general manager in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, is also the first woman to take the job since Tinder’s inception in 2012.
Yahoo.com, which competes with more recent albeit bigger players including Google and Facebook, is among the top five most visited websites in the United States and among top 20 in the world, according to Alexa Internet, a web traffic analysis firm.
Lanzone replaces Guru Gowrappan, who led Verizon’s media business since 2018 and has now been named senior adviser to Apollo’s private equity business.
