Following a series of high profile departures, beleaguered Web giant Yahoo finally added a big name to its executive lineup on Tuesday, tapping former Microsoft executive Joanne Bradford to head its U.S. ad sales force. Bradford will replace the departing David Karnstedt, the former SVP of U.S. sales, who is heading to venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures. Bradford's official title will be SVP of U.S. revenue and market development. She will report to Hilary Schneider, Yahoo's Executive Vice President. As The Wall Street Journal points out, this is no easy job, as weakness in display ad sales is one of …

As search guru John Battelle says, "Google knows what it knows is scary," hence today's announcement that the company is trimming back the amount of time it retains IP server logs from 18 months to nine. In a blog post, Google said it was "anonymizing" user data more quickly "to address regulatory concerns and to take another step to improve privacy for our users." At a meeting with privacy experts in Silicon Valley, Peter Cullen, chief privacy strategist for Microsoft Corp, said Google's move was done in response to pressure from European regulators and industry rivals. In fact, …

Is Google's search partnership with Yahoo -- a move that would give the Web giant a near 90% share of the search ad market -- a bad deal for advertisers? Cnet's Robert Hof doesn't think so. For starters, Hof points out that search ad prices are not set; they're determined through an auction, which means that Google "won't necessarily be able to wield pricing power like classic monopolists." Even so, marketers are concerned that prices will rise anyway, because more advertisers will be competing for fewer keywords once Google starts selling keywords on Yahoo Search. From a consumer perspective, Hof …

While the rest of the stock market surged, Google got stung yesterday as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors divested their holdings in the search giant to cover their losses in the plummeting mortgage giants, who received a federal bailout yesterday. In the end, Google dropped more than 5% in Monday trading to close at $419.95, its lowest level since March. Google's all-time his is $725.65, reached in November 2007. Why was Google in particular hit so hard? It could have been of things, analysts said, including the letter from the Association of National Advertisers that objected to Google's search …

As Nokia prepares to roll out its new Comes With Music service next month, the Financial Times reports that Sony Ericsson will announce a similar unlimited music downloading service for its mobile phones later this month. According to the report, Sony is in talks with the major record labels about launching the new service in Europe before Christmas. It's been a rough year for the world's fifth-largest handset maker, which was forced to issue two profit warnings as a result of lower than anticipated mobile sales in Europe, its core market. "Sony Ericsson's market share is shrinking," said Screen Digest …

Yahoo has hired Microsoft's Joanne Bradford to succeed David Karnstedt as head of U.S. sales. Bradford's title is senior vice president of U.S. revenue and market development and the new role includes running all of the company's ad sales, as well as small business services and HotJobs. Bradford joins after a brief stop at Spot Runner, the Internet-based TV ad platform, where she lead its national advertising services. She will report to Hillary Schneider, EVP of Yahoo's U.S. operations. Karnstedt leaves Yahoo Sept. 16 to become an entrepreneur in residence at a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Adweek says Bradford …