Adfonic, a European-based mobile advertising marketplace has raised $7.5 million to fuel its growth in North America, Europe and Asia. The funding comes from prior angel investors including Gordon Shields, chairman and founder of Shields Environmental. Adfonic, which says it averages 3,000 campaigns a month on behalf of clients including Samsung, eBay, McDonalds, and Groupon, plans to increase its staff of 100 by more than 150% in the next year. Part of that effort includes opening a San Francisco office and building up its North American executive team. The company already operates a New York City …

GroupM has named John Kristick Global CEO of GroupM Entertainment & Sports Partnerships (ESP), its entertainment and sports consultancy unit. Kristick most recently was managing director of sports entertainment and marketing firm Premier Partnerships.

Carol Bartz is out as CEO of Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal's "All Things D" reported, initially citing anonymous sources, and then saying that Yahoo confirmed the news. According to the report, CFO Tim Morse has been named interim CEO. "All Things D" published an email from Bartz indicating she was ousted: " To all, I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. …

Yahoo on Tuesday said the Board of Directors has appointed Timothy Morse interim CEO, effective immediately, replacing Carol Bartz, who has been removed by the Board from her role as Chief Executive Officer. The Board has also named senior Yahoo executives to a newly formed executive role tasked to support Morse in managing the company's daily operations until a permanent chief executive is appointed, as well as supporting a comprehensive strategic review that the Board has initiated to position the company for future growth.

Sprint has filed suit to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile just days after the U.S. government moved to stop the transaction on antitrust grounds. In its own legal challenge, the nation’s No. 3 carrier argues the deal would hurt consumers and lead to duopoly control by the two largest wireless operators—AT&T and Verizon. Sprint has been one of the most vocal critics of the acquisition since AT&T announced its plans to purchase T-Mobile in March. The Department of Justice filed its action Aug. 31, saying the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would “substantially …

Jim Loughran has been named senior vice president-digital sales at national cable TV sales rep NCC Media. He was senior vice president-sales operations at social and mobile start-up Venture Industries.

Responding to a recent privacy lawsuit, Microsoft said late week that it doesn't track the locations of Windows Phone users through their camera apps. "Because we do not store unique identifiers with any data transmitted to our location service database by the Windows Phone camera or any other application, the data captured and stored on our location database cannot be correlated to a specific device or user," a spokesperson stated. "Any transmission of location data by the Windows Phone camera would not enable Microsoft to identify an individual or 'track' his or her movements." The company added that …

Kraft Foods has shifted media planning duties on its Mac N' Cheese portfolio of brands to New York-based independent agency Horizon Media, without a review, per sources. The client spends an estimated $30 million annually on the brands. The incumbent on the planning account was Publicis Groupe's MediaVest, which handles a majority of the client's media business. Sources said it will retain buying and multicultural planning responsibilities on the Mac N' Cheese assignment. The reason for the shift wasn't immediately clear. The agencies either didn't respond for comment or referred inquiries to the client. A client rep didn't immediately respond …

The University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) is launching a campaign to announce the opening of the C. S. Mott Children's Hospital. The effort, via Campbell Ewald drives consumers online to view 12 videos that focus on patients featured in the campaign and their experience with UMHS doctors and staff. The "Michigan Difference" campaign, set to the music of the University of Michigan's fight song, includes TV, radio, and print that invites viewers to visit mottchildren.org to view the online videos and learn more about the new hospital. The creative also shows a new logo created by the agency …

Craig Schinn has joined independent agency trading desk Accordant Media as as vice president-reporting and analytics. He had been head of analytics at Publicis' Razorfish.