Yahoo has named its new CEO with Scott Thompson months after firing Carol Bartz as head of the troubled online search and advertising company.

Scott Thompson, the president of online payment service and eBay subsidiary PayPal, will take the post as Yahoo CEO effective January 9.

Under his leadership, PayPal now has over 104 million users from just 50 million and increased revenue to over $4bn from $1.8bn in 2008.

The position, which became vacant in September after former CEO Carol Bartz’s ouster by the board of directors, is currently under the helm of Yahoo interim CEO Tim Morse, who will return to Chief Financial Officer (CFO) when Thompson steps in.

Yahoo executive chair Roy Bostock said, “Scott brings to Yahoo! a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo!.”

Apart from an uncertain tenure as Yahoo CEO, Thompson will also become a member of the board.

Yahoo! headquarters in 2001. Image: gaku. via Flickr (CC)

According to BusinessWeek, Thompson previously served as PayPalSVP and CTO where he oversaw IT, product development, and architecture.

Before PayPal, Thompson worked for Inovant, a subsidiary of Visa that oversaw global technology for the group, as EVP of Technology Solutions, where he was responsible for all development, maintenance and support of Visa’s global payment system.

He also became CIO of Barclays Global Investors, where he deployed a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure.

In addition, he has worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients such as Wells Fargo.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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