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February 12, 2008

Yahoo Exec Bails: Bradley Horowitz Leaves For Google

Michael Arrington

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Bradley Horowitz, head of Yahoo’s Advanced Technology Division (and mentioned in a post earlier today), has accepted a position with Google, we’ve confirmed via a source at Yahoo. We have a message into Bradley for a comment, but have not yet heard back.

He will be working with Joe Kraus, director of product management and head of Google’s OpenSocial initiative, although we do not yet know his exact role.

This is a blow for Yahoo. Most new products (at least the fun stuff) goes through his group, and he is often the face of Yahoo at industry events. He is universally liked and respected, certainly outside of Yahoo and, as far as I can tell, within.

Bradley joined Yahoo in May 2004 as Director of Multimedia Search, and later worked on Yahoo Desktop Search and the Yahoo Toolbar. He was also key in getting the Flickr acquisition done. See the about page of his blog for his full bio.

He’s pictured on the right above, with Delicious founder Joshua Schachter.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 9:30 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. YDRIVE

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Quite unfortunate for Yahoo! :-(

  2. steve

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    I think these executives are somewhat overvalued…let him go.

  3. Tual

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    The floodgates are opening at Yahoo.

  4. Chris B.

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:53 pm

    You know, free will, etc. aside, where’s the loyalty in this business? I mean, are we getting ahead of ourselves?

    I would have been much more supportive if he left to go start something new … help a startup or a group of talented people who could really use his help in getting someting great off the ground.

    Instead, he joind the gEVIL empire … this is to show you that this is all about money. No pride or soul in this business.

    Sigh.

  5. Chuck

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of talent left for MS to acquire. Are you sure you want to do this Ballmer?

  6. Startups

    February 12th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    #2, Look at his bio ( http://www.elatable.com/blog/about/ ) … at least considering everything on his bio is accurate ;-) , this definitely seems to be a huge loss for Yahoo.

    #5. Loyalty? C’mon, isn’t this a capitalistic country world?

  7. Sam

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:04 pm

    it seems there is an exodus. Maybe Yahoo should take MS’ offer.

  8. Jen

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    The longer MSFT/YHOO delays, the more Yahooligans flee, the lower the valuation for YHOO.

  9. Planet Malaysia

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    more Yahoo talent will go…..

  10. dare

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    SHAME ON HIM!
    his loyality?!

  11. Sandra G

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    “The longer MSFT/YHOO delays, the more Yahooligans flee, the lower the valuation for YHOO.”

    You don’t think that Yahoo execs and employees won’t be climbing all over each other to get into Google or Facebook once the deal goes through? It’s going to be a nightmare of a transition. I am sure the fine people at Yahoo and Microsoft like their weekends and sanity too much to play nice with each other.

  12. sandeep

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm

    now google is working against yahoo and raising his walls high against Microsoft also

  13. Prasid

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    speculation - someone at this high a post leaving and showing no loyalty to Yahoo might suggest he knows which way Yahoo’s leaning on the MS takeover bid, and doesn’t like what he’s hearing.

  14. fernando

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:33 pm

    Wow! One “exec” leaving…It’s an exodus. One exec leaving, it’s a “capitalistic move, simply made for money. Please guys. One exec leaving does not mean an exodus. It does not mean that he’s leaving for capitalistic reasons. Maybe he sees that he can further his personal goals at goals at Google…Simple as that. Are his goals simply to line his pockets…Maybe. But such cynical outcomes based on ONE exec leaving? Come on.

  15. YDRIVE

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

    Guess it’s not how many, but who, that really counts — symbolically for its significance… ;-)

  16. best wishes

    February 12th, 2008 at 10:49 pm

    Good for him that he was able to find a job so quickly.

    Some people are lucky!

  17. John Furrier

    February 12th, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    The brain drain will continue. Yahoo will lose all their top people to Google.

    This is what I call the “Silicon Valley Poison Pill”

    http://furrier.org/2008/02/11/.....microsoft/

    Silicon Valley diehards wil not work for the Microsoft.

    Microsoft only get fresh recruits from Stanford. Mike wrote a great post on that last month on the comp sci grads. Google and Microsoft are head to head for comp sci grads at stanford.

    As the saying goes Microsoft likes to pick apples from the tree not from the barrell.

  18. interativierung

    February 12th, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    Good for Yahoo’s balance sheet. Why build new products (with the risk of fail) if you can buy traffic and companies ? Let’s focus on some core products, get them really right, put some “things nicely together” (Esther Dyson about Yahoo’s USP aginst Google’s blind evolution tactic of trial and error), squeeze out the revenue and cut the associated costs where you can and the shareholders will be more than happy.

    It’s a mature business no longer about being trendy or (b)leading edge.

    If some high performers (= high costs) leave margins will grow which makes room for more traffic buying.

  19. dave mcclure

    February 12th, 2008 at 11:43 pm

    wow.

    brad is definitely smart guy / charismatic geek. bummer for Y!

    congrats brad (& google)… hope all works out in the wash :)

    (didn’t realize this had happened when i saw u earlier tonight!)

  20. what

    February 12th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    why is this such a loss? if yahoo had such smart and talented people, it wouldnt suck so bad and be in the position it is today. google is just buying some tired old tech geeks that bloated down yahoo. what is so smart about that?

  21. uploadchoice

    February 13th, 2008 at 12:10 am

    Probably due to MS possible acquisition let them leave Yahoo!

  22. Marah Marie

    February 13th, 2008 at 1:17 am

    How many of you still think there is going to be an MS acquisition of Yahoo? Nope, I don’t. Not even a chance. MS has already lost - what is it, $38 billion in valuation for even extending Yahoo! the offer, which shows how little the market values the old search engine. I could be wrong, but I say MS’s offer is already off the table (or they go for hostile takeover, it’s one or the other).

    Yahoo! is screwed no matter what they do - now. MS’s offer was a serious over-valuation of their company in the first place and MS would be nuts to raise it one more dime. Their best hope if they want to stay free of MS’s clutches is to combine with AOL, another untethered dinosaur of a company, and hope for the best (although with all the mismanagment at both companies the only thing to come out of that merger may be everyone killing each other).

  23. WiredMike

    February 13th, 2008 at 5:24 am

    Another Google Grab!! :) They are really sucking up some of the top talent these days!!

    Mike

  24. Anatoly

    February 13th, 2008 at 5:47 am

    I’m sure they (Google) are going after Doug Cutting as well..this should be interesting.

  25. Hal Feldman

    February 13th, 2008 at 5:51 am

    Bradley is a quality individual who does not “jump ship” easily. I worked with Bradley several years ago and his moves are always precise and well thought out.

    You should also realize that when you work at Yahoo! you still have friends elsewhere, even at Google. Yes, Bradley has been good friends with several Googlers since well before his tenure at Yahoo!

    Why read any more or less into his move than that? We all gotta be mentally stimulated and employed…

  26. Faramarz

    February 13th, 2008 at 6:57 am

    Bradley was the one who made the flickr deal happen. I enjoyed hearing the story from him first hand during a student conference in Toronto.

    All the best to him on the new initiative. Yahoo! just lost one of their biggest assest

  27. 3Exys

    February 13th, 2008 at 8:20 am

    Bradley is a total looser. Yahoo is not losing anything at all. I worked with him on key projects and there is a lot of air coming out of him.
    He the master of fru-fru talking and/or not talking at all. He is one of those executives who is busy all day/night with nothing coming out of him/them
    Directly worked with brad on APD initiatives and most of the time he is not to be seen. He comes in at launch time, sends an email or 2 out, makes a blog post and goes away.

  28. Josiah

    February 13th, 2008 at 8:21 am

    Brad is wonderful and all, but honestly how well is the Yahoo! Desktop Search product doing? Install base for that anyone?

    And does anyone know how profitable Flickr is? I remember reading a while back about the really low conversion % for pro accounts.

  29. Joe Smith

    February 13th, 2008 at 8:37 am

    Brutal. Things at Yahoo are certainly looking grim..

  30. surj

    February 13th, 2008 at 8:51 am

    Yep, exactly what happens when you don’t let great minds have their way.

    Hey Bradley - sincerely all the best to you and hope to catch up with you at your new base :-)

  31. Tom Chi

    February 13th, 2008 at 9:01 am

    Good luck on your new gig, Bradley. I know you’ll do something great. :)

  32. Startups

    February 13th, 2008 at 9:08 am

    ..also, keep in mind the recent exodus of some top talent at Google. Nothing stays forever ;-)

  33. Memac

    February 13th, 2008 at 9:27 am

    @Chris B.

    He is not leaving for the money, well, its not all about the money, a statistics showed that high IQ people would prefer to work for Google. Think about it, would you be more interested in working for Google to change the world, or for Microsoft to defend its legacy software? I think as a high IQ person you would definitely prefer to change the world.

  34. whoopie

    February 13th, 2008 at 9:35 am

    not saddened by this at all, there are a few others i would hope would follow him

  35. SEO Charlotte

    February 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

    SOD loyalty - give me a winner anytime - abandon the sinking ship and online maze that is yahoo

  36. ExYahoos

    February 13th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

    What about the rest of us?

  37. Rajiv Singh

    February 14th, 2008 at 1:10 am

    Yahoo should outsource their operations to India and fire all the employees.

  38. Curt Monash

    February 14th, 2008 at 11:47 am

    I’d argue that Yahoo’s lack of emphasis on technology is:

    A. Highly reminiscent of AOL’s strategy a decade ago (about which I have inside knowledge)
    B. Brain-dead

    http://www.texttechnologies.co.....dead-pool/

    CAM

  39. William Alan Shirley

    February 14th, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    In a world where we find more envy than admiration, desire than gratitude, and fear than respect, it is no wonder that it is rare to meet a person of brilliance or of magnanimous heart. And most rare to meet one blessed with both. Bradley Horowitz is such a man. Yahoo was blessed to have him. For those possessed with a proclivity toward judgmentalism, as always, their gossip displays only the pathetic contraction of their own perspective. As Einstein said, “Small minds have always reacted violently to great minds.” Thank God there are many who recognize Bradley’s greatness. The wise folks at Yahoo did. And now those at Google do. It is my great good fortune to count Bradley as my dear friend. I know him to have compassion for the cowardly. I just say, let the dogs bark. And those of pure heart say fare thee well.

  40. Joe

    February 15th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    who is this guy? Will Wall St budge? He is not that important in that case…I won’t use Yahoo or Google any more or less than as a result…Google is lame if they think this is a huge deal….

  41. Samir

    February 15th, 2008 at 10:35 pm

    Doesn’t matter much. He basically didn’t do anything at Yahoo! except kiss up to the execs like Jeff Weiner, Ash Patel, Zod, etc. Bradley is perhaps the most overrated “exec” in the valley. Show me something he did at Yahoo! and I’ll feel bad about him leaving to Yahoo!. So, the headline of the story should be, Google hires yet another useless employee to eat organic food, ride around on scooters with mopads, and think they dominate the world.

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