Ex-Yahoo Moore Boomerangs Back To Microsoft; Puts Start-Up Idea On Hold

This story was written by Staci D. Kramer.

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Scott Moore, who left Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) for Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) four years ago, is headed back to Redmond as GM and executive producer of the U.S. content business, according to a report by Kara Swisher that I have confirmed. The after-the-fact announcement should come Monday. Moore isn't talking but I can tell you this represents a rapid change of course for the media exec, who left Yahoo last fall and will be responsible for most of the businesses he had before at Microsoftas well as the site being produced for MSN by his old boss at Yahoo, Lloyd Braun.

When we met just two weeks ago, Moore was leaning back, talking about a recent safari to Africa and about plans to move ahead with a local news/info start-up idea he had been noodling for a long time. In better days, he might have stayed the course. But it sounds like the combination of security and responsibility at Microsoft won out over the uncertainty of funding and then operating an ad-supported startup in the current environment. Also, Moore already was planning a return to Seattle for family reasons. If you aren't doing a startup there, the options for media executives used to working with big corporations narrow down to one pretty quickly. More to come.


By Staci D. Kramer