Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has confirmed that it has appointed Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer.  He will take over with an effective date of January 9, 2012.  At that time, Tim Morse will resume his role as Chief Financial Officer of Yahoo!.

Thompson has also been appointed to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors at the same time he takes on the CEO role.  As the reports had indicated, Thomson was most recently the President of the prized eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) unit PayPal and here is what the release noted: “Under his leadership, PayPal solidified its lead as the global online payment service, expanding its user base from 50 million to more than 104 million active users in 190 countries worldwide, increasing the number of merchant partners to more than 8 million globally, and growing revenues from $1.8 billion to $4+ billion in 2011.”

After Carol Bartz was fired, Yahoo! has had a strategy-lite operation and it is unknown how the company will spin off or divest its Asian assets in a tax-efficient and shareholder-friendly manner.  The overseas assets are not simple to unload and there are tax ramifications that will likely arise.  Ultimately, most shareholders investing in Yahoo! are betting on a buyout.

This news has been in the rumor mill and it is fair to ask if this is irony or coincidence that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) hit a 52-week high yesterday.

JON C. OGG

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