Yahoo Chief Operating Officer Henrique De Castro has been canned, according to a regulatory filing. Re/code’s Kara Swisher reported on the story first. De Castro’s departure date is Jan. 16.
A former Googler, De Castro is credited by industry insiders with helping to build Google’s display ad business and making YouTube profitable. De Castro joined Yahoo in 2012 soon after Marissa Mayer became Yahoo’s new CEO. He was scheduled to receive $60 million in salary, bonus and stock over a four-year period.
De Castro struggled to bring to Yahoo the success he had at Google, however. In its latest earnings report, Yahoo beat earnings estimates, but revenue was nearly flat and its display ad revenue was down. Rumors that De Castro was on his way out crescendoed when executives and the press noted his absence at recent events, such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
A Yahoo spokesperson provided this statement: “As is stated in the 8-K that we filed today, Henrique de Castro will be leaving Yahoo, effective Thursday, January 16, 2014. We aren’t commenting beyond the 8-K.”
Yahoo last week announced a major overhaul of its ad products. It retired several parts of its ad system, including real-time bidding platform Right Media and data-management software Genome, and added a suite of new capabilities dubbed Yahoo Advertising.
