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Yahoo! to Expand Scope of Yahoo! Research Labs; Company Appoints Dr. Usama Fayyad to Lead Research Efforts and Increase Focus on Global TalentSUNNYVALE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- April 12, 2005 -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that Yahoo! Research Labs is expanding its scope by extending its research efforts to new areas that will support and reinforce Yahoo!'s strategic business priorities. Yahoo!'s goal is to build Yahoo! Research Labs into a world-class center for scientific innovation and invention and foster an environment that attracts the most talented scientists from around the world. Yahoo! Research Labs will develop the underlying scientific foundation to address complex challenges in areas including search and information navigation, social media, community, personalization, and mobility. Of particular focus is the design of algorithms that will support technologies and interactions to scale to Yahoo!'s hundreds of millions of users. "Yahoo! has always prided itself on product innovation and invention which is why we believe it's extremely important to continue to invest time and resources into R&D," said Farzad Nazem, executive vice president and chief technology officer, Yahoo!. "Many of our superior products and services are a result of our investment in areas like Yahoo! Research Labs. We will continue to build on that success globally as we focus on discovering new technologies to enhance our products and services that ultimately benefit our users." As part of this increased commitment, Yahoo! has appointed Chief Data Officer Dr. Usama Fayyad to take on oversight of Yahoo! Research Labs. In addition to his current responsibilities as senior vice president of strategic data solutions, Fayyad will now be responsible for setting the vision and strategic direction of Yahoo! Research Labs. "I look forward to expanding Yahoo!'s technical research agenda, growing the team to bring new focus and energy to Yahoo! Research Labs, and building on the truly innovative research that our talented group of scientists and engineers have been working on," said Fayyad. "We want to lay the foundation for establishing the new science that will define the future of the web and its essential role in everyday life." Fayyad joined Yahoo in 2004 as the industry's first chief data officer. He is a renowned scientist and proven technology executive. His distinguished career includes founding a research program for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) to apply data mining technology to solve some of the most difficult scientific challenges involving massive data sets. This work earned him the highest research award from JPL/Caltech and a U.S. Government Medal from NASA. He also spent time at Microsoft where he founded and led the data mining and exploration group at Microsoft Research and built and shipped data mining products for Microsoft's server division. In early 2000, he left Microsoft to establish a venture-funded technology startup and in 2003 he founded DMX Group, a leading data strategy and data mining company. Fayyad is one of the founding figures in the field of data mining and knowledge discovery in databases, has co-authored two books, served as founding editor-in-chief of the primary scientific journal in the field, has authored over 100 technical articles, and regularly gives keynotes at scientific, business, and government forums around the globe. Since its launch last year, Yahoo! Research Labs has played an important role in encouraging the exploration of cutting-edge technology within Yahoo!. The team has laid the foundation for innovation and invention across many product and services groups at Yahoo! including technological contributions to Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! HotJobs, Yahoo! Mail and others. About Yahoo! Yahoo! Inc. is the No. 1 Internet brand globally and the most trafficked Internet destination worldwide. Yahoo! provides online products and services essential to consumers' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. This press release contains forward looking statements concerning Yahoo!'s strategic and operational plans. Actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, decreases or delays in future investments in research and development, our ability to expand our research team, the occurrence and timing of future developments of new technologies and products, and acceptance of any new technologies and products. More information about potential factors that could impact our expected strategic and operational plans is included in Yahoo!'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, including, without limitation, under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners. |
