Yahoo's Semel

Yahoo on Tuesday night announced a major reorganization involving a shuffling of top execs and a restructuring into three operating groups. The intent is to increase accountability, reduce bottlenecks and speed decision-making, Yahoo said.

Yahoo's operations will be reorganized, as of January 1, into two customer-facing groups, one for audiences and one for advertisers and publishers, and a third group focusing on technology, reports ClickZ. Susan Decker, CFO since 2000, will head the advertiser/publisher group. CTO Farzad Nazem will lead the tech group. The audience group head has not yet been named.

The three group leaders will report directly to chairman and CEO Terry Semel. Key objectives for each operating group are to organize services around audience segments and advertising customers rather than around products; to focus on social media; and to extend advertising offerings to advertisers of all sizes and needs.

Dan Rosensweig, Yahoo's COO, will leave the company at the end of March. Lloyd Braun, head of Yahoo's media group, will also leave the company.

Jeff Weiner, an SVP for search, will assume added responsibilities, including social media, communications and Yahoo's media group, Semel is quoted by the New York Times as saying. He also said Marco Boerries, an SVP for broadband partnerships and other initiatives, would have increased responsibilities.