It’s official: Levinsohn joins Yahoo to head up U.S. operations

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Yahoo Inc. confirmed late Wednesday that it has hired former Fox Interactive Media President Ross Levinsohn to run the Internet giant’s U.S. operations.

He will report to Chief Executive Carol Bartz and be responsible for the company’s media group, advertising sales and partnerships in the U.S.

Levinsohn replaces Hilary Schneider, who is slated to leave the Sunnyvale, Calif., company at the end of the year.

‘Ross has a phenomenal track record of executing digital media strategies that increase user engagement and, most importantly, accelerate top-line growth,’ Bartz said in a statement.

The hiring marked a rare bright spot for the struggling company that has suffered from lagging investor confidence in the wake of executive departures and questions about Bartz’s leadership.

Levinsohn, a well-liked and experienced digital media deal maker and executive, will leave his current gig as co-founder and managing partner of Fuse Capital in Los Angeles, which invests in digital media and communications start-ups.

As the former president of News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media, he helped engineer its $580-million acquisition of MySpace, at the time a rising Internet star that has since lost its spark (check out our story on its attempt to reboot). He also held senior management positions with AltaVista, CBS SportsLine and HBO.

In a statement, Levinsohn called joining Yahoo a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity.’ A person close to him said he is excited about the new job. Levinsohn could not be reached for comment.

Levinsohn will officially join Yahoo in November. He will be based in the company’s Santa Monica office, but will travel to its Silicon Valley headquarters and to its sales offices, a spokeswoman said.

Remaining in Los Angeles was one of the key points Levinsohn negotiated over the last few days. All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher broke the news.

-- Jessica Guynn