Kathy Savitt, Yahoo’s longtime chief marketer and ally to CEO Marissa Mayer, has left the company to join STX Entertainment.
On Friday, film and television studio STX Entertainment announced Savitt will be joining as its president of digital content starting in October, concluding three years at Yahoo (YHOO). According to Re/Code, Savitt is only part of a looming Yahoo leadership shake-up. Scott Burke, Yahoo’s senior vice president of advertising and data platforms, left in August, along with Dawn Airey, who lead Yahoo’s European and other international units. Chief information security officer Alex Stamos left in June for Facebook after only a year on the job.
Though Savitt had a close relationship with Mayer and was tasked with the company’s marketing and its media unit, their ties seemed to have cooled in recent times, according to Re/Code.
Savitt’s departure likely won’t help improve Yahoo’s tattered image. After three years at the helm, Mayer has had little luck restoring some of the company’s past luster.
Under her leadership, Yahoo has acquired a stream of companies, though none have been hits. Online advertising, Yahoo’s core business, is mostly stagnant.
Yahoo’s plan to spin off its $30 billion stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba (BABA) also hit a road bump earlier this week when the IRS declined to provide the company an early ruling on whether the transaction could be done tax-free. The development raised fears that Yahoo would have to pay billion in taxes or potentially scuttle the maneuver.
For more on Yahoo’s plan to spin off its Alibaba stake, watch this Coins2Day video: