For those wondering how serious Yahoo is about super charging its media division need to look no further than its recent hires.
Today the company announced that high-profile news personality Katie Couric, perhaps best known for her work on 60 Minutes and NBC’s Today Show, is joining the company as its new global news anchor. Couric will continue, however, to host her nationally syndicated daytime talk show Katie.
This is the second big, well-known media personality hire for Yahoo. Last month the company managed to lure away long-time New York Times technology columnist David Pogue to head up a new consumer tech news site. And prior to that Yahoo hired former NYT’s news editor Megan Liberman and political reporter Matt Bai.
Yahoo is definitely trying to stack its deck when its comes to building a new news and media department as part of its overall strategy, which includes both producing and licensing premium video content. The company also isn’t afraid to go after these big names, which I’d imagine is costing them quite a bit.
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As for Couric, Yahoo said she will begin her new role at the company beginning early 2014. In a blog post announcing the news, CEO Marissa Mayer stated Couric will “lead a growing team of correspondents at Yahoo News who will cover the world’s most interesting stories and newsmakers.”
