Coppel to head Yahoo! Europe

by Lisa Simmons, Media Week 19-Apr-07, 12:00

LONDON - Yahoo! has promoted its US-based chief strategy officer Toby Coppel to managing director of Yahoo! Europe.

During his six years at Yahoo! in the US, reporting to Yahoo!'s chairman and chief executive Terry Semel, Coppel worked closely with the European management team on strategies including increasing focus on social media services such as Yahoo! Answers.

He succeeds previous European managing director Dominique Vidal. Yahoo! said that Vidal had made a "personal decision to pursue a new opportunity outside the company".

Coppel takes over the role from 1 June.

Yesterday Semel drew criticism from investors as Yahoo!'s first quarter figures showed a 11% drop in profits to £142 million.