• D: All Things Digital, Friday, June 20, 2008 11:30 AM

Why are executives leaving Yahoo in droves? Because they got wind of the company's reorganization plans, says Kara Swisher. The Web giant is throwing just about everything into a new Global Products Group, which will be headed by Ash Patel, currently EVP of Yahoo Platforms and Infrastructure. This includes much of the Network division, which was headed by the now-departed Jeff Weiner, including search, email, messaging, the homepage, platforms and social networking.

This also means the likes of communications and communities SVP Brad Garlinghouse, Search SVP Vish Makhijani and Front Door VP Tapan Bhat were expected to move into Global Products -- that is, until Garlinghouse and Makhijani decided to leave. Bhat is also reportedly unsure about sticking around, according to Swisher, who says, "the prospect of working for Patel is not a welcome one for some Yahoo execs in the old Network division."

Said one Yahoo exec: "No one wants to report up through (Patel). He's a Yahoo lifer and not the kind of dynamic leader we need." Patel has been at Yahoo since 1996, making him one of the longest-serving executives at the company. Meanwhile, the Yahoo sources said CEO Jerry Yang, whom many expect to receive the axe, was strangely absent from the reorg talks. "He is like a ghost," said one exec. "It is nerve-wracking."

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