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.
13 Facts About Guru Gowrappan
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Guru Gowrappan earned a degree in information technology from Madras University and his master's degree in computer science from the University of Southern California.
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Guru Gowrappan completed the business bridge program at Tuck School of Business, the graduate business school of Dartmouth College.
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Guru Gowrappan 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.
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Guru Gowrappan's duties included consumer, revenue operations, and business-to-business marketing.
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Guru Gowrappan 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.
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Guru Gowrappan's efforts include initiatives to introduce online shopping and transactions into Verizon Media's digital offerings.
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Guru Gowrappan sought to differentiate Verizon Media from other businesses by focusing on premium content by publishers and premium memberships.
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Additionally, Guru Gowrappan stopped efforts to sell brands within Verizon Media and shuttered flagging services.
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Guru Gowrappan leads Mind Together, a group addressing workplace culture around mental health.
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The sale closed on September 1,2021, with Guru Gowrappan named the CEO of Yahoo.
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Guru Gowrappan led the new company in the weeks following the merger until September 27,2021, when he was succeeded by Jim Lanzone.
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Guru Gowrappan 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.