• by Mark Walsh , May 29, 2009

Jeff Dossett, formerly head of Yahoo's North American Audience business, has left the company to become CEO of online travel site AdventureLink. His departure from the Web portal -- where he oversaw key properties including News, Sports and Finance -- was first reported Thursday by the All Things Digital blog.

Dossett is the latest in a long line of executives to exit Yahoo both before and since Carol Bartz took over as CEO in January, with the task of turning around the struggling Internet giant in the aftermath of its scuttled merger with Microsoft. Streamlining the company's convoluted management structure has been among her initial steps.

Dossett had joined Yahoo as successor to Scott Moore only last November from Microsoft, where he was the executive producer and general manager of MSN in the U.S. At the time, the veteran mountain climber told paidContent that he considered the Yahoo gig his "next Mount Everest."

His new job turns the metaphor into reality. AdventureLink bills itself as the first online booking service for adventure travel, with 60,000 trips offered by 1,800 tour operators worldwide. Founded in 2006, the Los Angeles-based company is backed by Anthem Venture Partners, The Mailroom Fund and Allegis Capital.

In a statement released Friday, the company said board member Richard Bangs, who developed the short-lived "Richard Bangs Adventures" travel show on Yahoo, was instrumental in bringing Dossett to AdventureLink.

At Yahoo, Dossett's responsibilities have been assumed by Jimmy Pitaro, who runs the Vertical Audience Experiences group, and Tim Mayer, in charge of Search & Social Applications, according to All Things D. They will jointly head the North America Audience business, reporting to Hilary Schneider, executive vice president for North America.