Burke takes on commercial duties at Yahoo!

LONDON - Yahoo! has handed the role of UK and Ireland commercial director to the internal candidate Warren Burke.

According to sources, Burke will replace Blake Chandlee, who left Yahoo! in October last year to become the commercial director at Facebook.

The appointment follows a lengthy interview process that included other internal and

external candidates.

The uncertainty over Yahoo!'s future, following its rejection of a $44 billion takeover bid from Microsoft, made an internal appointment more likely.

Burke, who was caretaking the role, is expected to oversee a merged UK display and search marketing operation.

He was previously the director of global and pan-European sales, leading a sales and client services team that handled international campaigns.

Yahoo! has seen a series of departures from the top tier of its UK commercial team. Last week, Richard Firminger, its regional sales director and the head of its UK search operation, left without a job to go to.

His departure followed Chandlee's and that of Stephen Haines, the head of agency strategy.