Verizon Media, the telco’s division that houses Yahoo, AOL, HuffPost and other digital brands, tapped veteran tech exec Rathi Murthy to lead its global technology strategy as CTO.
Murthy most recently served as Gap Inc.’s chief technology officer overseeing a team of 2,500 employees across the retailers portfolio of brands. Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles at American Express, overseeing technology development for prepaid and alternative payments. Murthy also was a senior director of engineering at eBay for about two years and worked at Yahoo from 2005-10 in senior engineering roles.
At Verizon Media, Murthy will be based in Sunnyvale, Calif., overseeing all technology strategy including development in 5G, advertising and content, commerce and subscriptions.
“Rathi is a stellar technology leader who, for over 20 years, has driven growth for some of the world’s biggest companies, including Gap, American Express and eBay,” Guru Gowrappan, who assumed the CEO role of Verizon Media (previously dubbed Oath) in the fall of 2018, said in announcing her appointment. “As our business continues to evolve in new ways, we are excited to add her wealth of experience and believe it will be invaluable for us in support of our mission of connecting people to their passions.”
Murthy commented, “Verizon Media is in an exciting new phase of growth and is leading in 5G technology. I look forward to amplifying that success with an innovative technology road map.”
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Verizon Media’s revenue in the third quarter of 2019 was $1.8 billion, flat with the prior quarter and down 2% year over year. According to the company, Verizon Media revenue from mobile advertising is now outpacing desktop, which has been in steady decline for several years.