Seven West Media sells Yahoo7 shareholding to US parent company Oath

Seven West Media and Oath today announced that Oath is to take full control of Yahoo7 by acquiring SWM’s 50% stake in the business. The transaction is expected to complete by August.

Current chief revenue officer Paul Sigaloff has been promoted to managing director of Oath, ANZ.

As part of the transition, CEO Ed Harrison, CFO Penny Diamantakiou, CTO Paul Russell, and director of product Mark Robinson will leave Yahoo7.

SWM’s chief executive officer Tim Worner said: “Over the past 18 months we have executed our strategy to control the distribution and monetisation of our digital products, and as a result we’re seeing strong audience and revenue growth.

“The natural next step of that strategy is to sell our stake in Yahoo7, which sadly means that we must part ways with our friends in Yahoo7 and our partners in Oath.”

Oath’s head of APAC Rose Tsou said: “Simplifying our structure in Australia and New Zealand is a big moment for Oath and our advertising and publisher partners. We see a huge amount of opportunity for growth through our global house of brands and technology platforms.”