• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 6, 2005

Jim Moloshok, Yahoo!'s senior vice president of entertainment and content acquisitions, has left the Internet company to join HBO in the newly created position of president of media ventures. Moloshok worked closely on some of the company's glitziest deals, like its Web hosting of Mark Burnett's and NBC's "The Apprentice."

A Yahoo! spokesman said that the company has no immediate plans to fill Moloshok's position, adding that David Katz would oversee all of Moloshok's responsibilities in his existing role as head of sports and entertainment. Katz, who transitioned from CBS Television to Yahoo! in July, is responsible for Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Entertainment, Yahoo! Movies, and Yahoo! TV.

Since Moloshok joined Yahoo! in 2002, the company's broader media ambitions have become more publicly apparent. Last year, the company hired Lloyd Braun, former chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group, to head Yahoo! Media. Currently, Yahoo! Media also boasts executives from other major TV networks: Chief Business Officer Ira Kurgan came from Fox Broadcasting in late May, where he served as president of network business operations; Vice President of Content Operations Shawn Hardin spent seven years working with NBC as an executive vice president, chief product officer, and group general manager for NBC Internet (Hardin also served as senior vice president of broadband at AOL). Yahoo! is led by former Warner Bros. co-CEO Terry Semel.

Yahoo!'s spokesman said that Moloshok's departure won't affect relationships with any existing content partners. "The structure of Yahoo! Media as it exists today puts us in the best position to prosper going forward," the Yahoo! spokesman said.

Before coming to Yahoo!, Moloshok spent 11 years at Warner Bros., where he led the company's online initiatives. He was co-founder and president of Warner Bros. Online, overseeing the Web presence for all of the company's brands, including movies, television, and retail.