Yahoo confirms departure of three executives

Yahoo Inc. on Thursday confirmed the departure of one of its top U.S. executives, Hilary Schneider, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, Schneider, the company’s executive vice president responsible for business partnerships and advertising sales in the Americas, will remain at the company for a transition period.

Also leaving the company, Yahoo said, are David Ko, a senior vice president who oversees strategy for the company’s media properties and its mobile device partnerships, and Jimmy Pitaro, vice president of media.

They are just the latest executives to leave Yahoo, including advertising executive David Ku last month. The once high-flying Internet company is in the midst of a turnaround effort under Chief Executive Carol Bartz.

Some critics say Bartz, who joined Yahoo in January 2009, has not yet done enough to slow Yahoo’s ongoing slide from its enviable perch as one of the hottest properties of the dot-com boom. But analysts are not ready to write off Yahoo. The departures of such experienced executives would be a “notable blow,” but Yahoo still has “significant value” in its Asia investments and global franchises, Standard & Poor’s analyst Scott Kessler said.

jessica.guynn@latimes.com