The man responsible for Yahoo’s wildly successful home page has left the building, according to Business Insider and All Things D. Tapan Bhat was hired by Yahoo back in 2005, stealing him from Adobe. Bhat ran ‘Front Doors’ as well as being a leading force behind many of Yahoo’s social media applications. In 2009, he was responsible for the highly successful Yahoo front page revamp (a move that many predicted would fail), and was given the title of Senior Vice President – Integrated Consumer Experience. Now, however, amidst rumors of a falling out with CEO Carol Bartz accompany his resignation.
The fact that Yahoo was moving away from search was evident even back when Bhat was new to Yahoo, according to comments he made in 2007 to Times Online:
“Search is no longer the dominant paradigm,” Tapan Bhat, vice president of Front Doors, Yahoo!’s personalised home page, told the Next Web conference in Amsterdam…”The future of the web is about personalisation. Where search was dominant, now the web is about ‘me.’ It’s about weaving the web together in a way that is smart and personalised for the user,” Mr Bhat said…Asked later to clarify his comments, Mr Bhat told Times Online: “We’re not admitting defeat. Search still matters, but we need to be providing a wrapper around search to turn the info search offers up into something more useful.”
Yahoo has since apparently abandoned search to concentrate on their home page and news efforts, joining in a deal with Microsoft to serve results. The emphasis on the new home page makes it surprising that Bhat is leaving – particularly since he has apparently not been headhunted by any other major Silicon Valley players.
However, Yahoo confirms Bhat is leaving:
“Tapan Bhat, SVP, Integrated Consumer Experiences, has decided to leave Yahoo!. Tapan has been an integral leader within the Products organization since joining Yahoo! more than five years ago and we value his many contributions and wish him well. His last day will be June 15.”
And from Bhat:
“Leaving Yahoo! has been a difficult decision to make because I’m incredibly proud of the work that’s been accomplished by my teams over the last five years, particularly related to the Yahoo! homepage, My Yahoo!, our content optimization engine and most recently, our Mobile and iPad apps. I’m looking forward to new challenges that lie ahead and am confident that I’m leaving Yahoo! on the right path, and with the right leadership in place.”
Bhat should have no trouble finding new employment; his references are stellar and his LinkedIn profile lists his qualifications representing him as the executive material he is:
Skilled technology general manager excelling in technology product management and marketing spanning start-up and large company worlds. Adept at understanding consumer motivations/needs, technology trends and being being able to translate these into award winning products. Excellent general manager – have grown businesses even in stagnant market through clever product execution and business/marketing strategy. Strong global product skills – understanding of behaviors and consumer dynamics in Europe and Japan proven through developing global products.
Any takers? Bhat isn’t the only Yahoo exec to leave in recent months; According to BoomTown:
Yahoo’s SVP of U.S. Revenue and Market Development Joanne Bradford is planning on leaving the Internet giant to take a new position as chief revenue officer of online content upstart Demand Media.
Tags: Demand Studios, Joanne Bradford, Tapan Bhat, Yahoo