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Yahoo!'s affair with Braun, Current TV ends Yahoo! yesterday announced a major shake-up of senior management, prompting the exit of media chief Lloyd Braun, and confirmed its joint-venture with Al Gore's Current TV has ended. Braun, who was previously chairman of ABC, is leaving Yahoo! after chief executive Terry Semel – himself a former TV veteran from Warner Bros – outlined plans for a radical restructuring.  The online giant, which has come under increasing pressure due to the rise of Google, YouTube and MySpace, is being reorganised into three operating groups, focused on the audience, advertising and publishing, and technology.As a result, Braun, Yahoo! head of media and entertainment, is leaving, together with David Katz, who reported into him as head of sports and entertainment plus the recently created Yahoo! studios. Separately, the company admitted that its deal to distribute a joint-branded version of Current TV was ending after just three months. Braun is believed to have clashed with senior management on previous occasions and earlier this year admitted that some of his expectations for bringing TV-like content to Yahoo! had been out of kilter with group strategy. His comments quashed speculation that he was looking to revive The Runner, a concept from his ABC days, floated by Live Planet, in which a pseudo-fugitive would be set loose with viewers searching for clues online and in the real world. Discussions were rumoured to be underway between Yahoo! and Mark Burnett Productions but these were put paid to when the latter announced it was producing a multiplatform treasure hunt called Gold Rush for AOL. Live Planet has since gone on to produce Fan Club, a reality baseball property, for MSN Originals, the Microsoft initiative designed to beef up its own online entertainment offering. But Yahoo!'s uncertain alliance with the TV industry hasn't been extinguished completely, despite speculation around the future of Semel himself. As recently as October, the company enlisted Who Wants To be a Millionaire? US producer Michael Davis to develop an online talent show. The media and entertainment group, which spawned he initiative, is now being folded within the new audience group, for which Yahoo! is seeking a lead exec. Aside from Braun and Katz, chief operating officer Dan Rosensweig is also on his way, while Sue Decker, previously chief financial officer, is rising to take the top spot at the new Yahoo! advertising and publishing group – the portal's biggest cash cow. "The internet is continuing to grow and evolve at a rapid pace, and we're reshaping Yahoo! to be a leader in this transformation, just as we did successfully five years ago," said Semel, adding that the new structure would increase accountability, reduce bottlenecks and speed decision-making. Jonathan Webdale 6 Dec 2006 © C21 Media 2006 
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