Guru Gowrappan

K. Guru Gowrappan is the President of Viasat Inc. He is the former CEO of Yahoo and previously held leadership positions with Apollo Global Management, Alibaba Group, Zynga, Overture, and Quixey.

K. Guru Gowrappan
Born
Kumara Guru Gowrappan

1980 or 1981 (age 42–43)[1]
India
Alma mater
OccupationPresident of Viasat Inc.
Known forFormer CEO of Yahoo

Early life and education

K. Guru Gowrappan was born in India.[2] He earned a degree in information technology from Madras University and his master's degree in computer science from the University of Southern California.[3] He completed the business bridge program at Tuck School of Business, the graduate business school of Dartmouth College.[3]

Career
Guru Gowrappan (left) and other Alibaba Group officials meet with Union Minister for Communications & Information Technology Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi in 2016.

Gowrappan served as global managing director of Alibaba Group (2015-2018), in charge of international expansion for consumer and enterprise products.[3][4]

He was chief operations officer of Zynga, where he led growth and emerging initiatives, mergers and acquisitions integration, including the purchase of Newtoy, which brought Words With Friends to Zynga, and worked with top executives during Zynga's 2011 initial public offering.[5] Gowrappan also had leadership and executive roles in strategy and business operations at Overture, Yahoo!, and led product growth at Quixey (as COO).[2][4][5]

Verizon hired Gowrappan in April 2018 as president and COO of its Oath division[6] (later renamed Verizon Media;[7] as of September 1, 2021, a standalone company named Yahoo).[8] His duties included consumer, revenue operations, and business-to-business marketing.[6][9] He assumed the role of CEO of Verizon Media in October 2018, succeeding Tim Armstrong, the former AOL CEO who oversaw Verizon's consolidation of AOL and Yahoo.[4][10][9]

As part of his plan as CEO of Verizon Media, whose brands include Yahoo and AOL, Gowrappan said the unit would focus on mobile and video products, and revenue from its advertising platforms.[1][11] Gowrappan's efforts include initiatives to introduce online shopping and transactions into Verizon Media's digital offerings.[12] Gowrappan sought to differentiate Verizon Media from other businesses by focusing on premium content by publishers and premium memberships.[13][14] Additionally, Gowrappan stopped efforts to sell brands within Verizon Media and shuttered flagging services.[1] In early 2019, Verizon announced it would lay off 7% of the media group staff following a monthslong review of the business by Gowrappan.[1] Variety attributed Gowrappan with the introduction of Verizon Media Immersive, an advertising and content extended reality platform, and a deal with the NBA and Yahoo Sports with live VR experiences by RYOT.[15] Gowrappan leads Mind Together, a group addressing workplace culture around mental health.[16]

In May 2021, Apollo Global Management agreed to acquire 90% of Verizon Media from Verizon for $5 billion.[17][18] The sale closed on September 1, 2021, with Gowrappan named the CEO of Yahoo.[8] Gowrappan led the new company in the weeks following the merger until September 27, 2021, when he was succeeded by Jim Lanzone. Gowrappan was named senior advisor to Apollo Global Management.[19]

As of 2021, Gowrappan serves on the board of directors of BNY Mellon and Tech:NYC.[20][21] He has served on the board of directors for One97 Communications Ltd, the parent of Paytm, and is an angel investor and advisor to Indian start-ups.[22]

References
  1. Krouse, Sarah (January 23, 2019). "Verizon To Lay Off 7% of Media Group". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  2. "Kshitij Karundia and Guru Gowrappan: Meet the Indians behind Alibaba's tryst with India". The Economic Times. May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  3. Hall, Gina (March 1, 2016). "Two top executives depart from mobile startup Quixey". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  4. Spangler, Todd (September 12, 2018). "Verizon Confirms Oath CEO Tim Armstrong Will Leave at End of 2018". Variety. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  5. Lawler, Ryan (January 18, 2013). "Former Zynga 'Fixer' Guru Gowrappan Heads To App Search Startup Quixey As EVP Of Products". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
  6. Kafka, Peter (April 18, 2018). "Verizon's Oath has hired a COO from Alibaba, and its top media executive has left". Recode. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  7. Carman, Ashley (November 5, 2018). "Oath will soon be rebranded as Verizon Media Group". The Verge. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  8. Mihalcik, Carrie (September 1, 2021). "Yahoo has a new owner, again". CNET. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  9. Hercher, James (September 13, 2018). "Who Is Guru Gowrappan? New Oath CEO Described As Strong Operator, "Thinking Leader"". Adexchanger. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  10. Al-Muslim, Aisha (September 12, 2018). "Oath CEO Tim Armstrong to Leave the Verizon Unit". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  11. Abril, Danielle (April 25, 2019). "Verizon Media CEO Reveals His Plan For Reviving Struggling Online Business". Fortune. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  12. Toh, Michelle (June 24, 2019). "Verizon is putting shopping at the heart of its media business". CNN Business. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  13. Oakes, Omar (June 25, 2019). "Verizon Media's new CEO banks on 'premium' strategy to turn things around". Campaign. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  14. "Verizon Media CEO on Asia Markets, Member-Centric Programs, 5G". Bloomberg News. June 23, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2019.
  15. "GuruGowrappan". Variety. 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  16. Mehta, Stephanie (April 15, 2021). "Verizon Media, Snap, Spotify, and Kellogg want to destigmatize mental health at work". Fast Company. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  17. Szalai, Georg (July 21, 2021). "Verizon Loses 62,000 Pay TV, Adds 92,000 Broadband Subs in Quarter". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  18. Kazin, Matthew (April 30, 2021). "Verizon sells Yahoo, AOL and media assets to Apollo in $5B deal". Fox Business. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
  19. Sherman, Alex (September 10, 2021). "Tinder CEO Jim Lanzone will be next CEO of Yahoo following Apollo acquisition". CNBC. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
  20. "K. Guru Gowrappan". BNY Mellon. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  21. "Board members". Tech:NYC. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
  22. Malik, Yuvraj (October 27, 2016). "Paytm names Alibaba's K. Guru Gowrappan as additional director". Mint. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
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