- Yahoo!Xtra
Infobox_Company
company_name = Yahoo!Xtra
company_type =Joint venture
foundation = December 2006
location =Auckland, New Zealand
key_groups =Yahoo!7 andTelecom New Zealand
num_employees = 30+ in Auckland
10 in Sydney
services =Internet portal
homepage = [http://nz.docs.yahoo.com/info/ Yahoo!Xtra Company Info]
industry = MediaInfobox Website
name = Yahoo!Xtra
url = http://nz.yahoo.com/
commercial = Yes
type =Internet portal
registration = Optional
owner =Telecom New Zealand andYahoo!7
launch date = March 2007Yahoo!Xtra is a a joint venture
web portal betweenYahoo!7 andTelecom New Zealand . Yahoo!7 holds a 51 per cent stake in the company and Telecom holds 49 per cent.XtraMSN
Telecom launched
internet service provider Xtra in 1996, which isNew Zealand 's largest ISP (as of 2008 ). In 2001 Telecom partnered withMSN to create the web portal XtraMSN, which by 2006 was receiving over 100 million total page impressions in a single month. Visitor numbers to XtraMSN grew by 45 percent in its last two years and the website attracted more than 3 million unique browsers per month. [ [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0702/S00061.htm Scoop: Yahoo!Xtra Launches in New Zealand ] ]Move to Yahoo
In December 2006, Telecom had made a new agreement, founding a joint venture with
Australia 'sYahoo!7 - itself a joint company between theSeven Network andYahoo! Inc. - to form Yahoo!Xtra. The six-year-old Telecom and Microsoft portal ended on 1 March 2007, with the users invited to go to either YahooXtra.co.nz or Msn.co.nz.Telecom reportedly leaves the content management of the portal to
Yahoo!7 , maintaining a skeleton editorial staff to manage local news, sport and entertainment content. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/organisation/story.cfm?o_id=600611&objectid=10425120 Yahoo, now what about the Xtras? - 22 Feb 2007 - Yahoo! ] ] Telecom said it had boosted the organisation from 20 staff to over 30 employees in Auckland and 10 based in Sydney. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/organisation/story.cfm?o_id=600611&objectid=10421662 Xtra responsibility for partner signals change of path for Telecom - 31 Jan 2007 - Yahoo! ] ] .People
The make-up of the Yahoo!Xtra's board, chaired by Yahoo!7 CEO
Ian Smith , was announced28 February ,2007 . The board consists of:*
Kevin Kenrick , Telecom COO, Consumer
*Mark Verbiest , Telecom Group General Counsel
*Rod Snodgrass , Telecom GM, Group Strategy and Development
*Rohan Lund ,Seven Network Director of Digital Media and Strategic Investments
*David Gowdey , Yahoo! Director Corporate Development South Asia.In April 2007,
Kevin Bowler was appointed as theAuckland -based CEO of Yahoo!Xtra, along withPhil Armstrong asCFO , andSusan Carlton as head of marketing.Tom Osborne , formerly of Colenso BBDO in Auckland, is the National Sales Director.Promotion
Yahoo!Xtra's 'X meets Y' promotion at launch featured a television commercial with
Regina Spektor 's song "Fidelity" playing whilst a young couple undertake in a lingering kiss. This helped throw the anti-folk star under the spotlight in the New Zealand music scene, "Fidelity" becoming a hit single and one of Spektor's most successful tracks [ [http://yahooxtra.net.nz/music/0,,14520-7046315,00.html Yahoo!Xtra Music ] ] .Notes and references
External links
* [http://nz.yahoo.com/ Official website]
* [http://au.yahoo.com Yahoo!7 official website]
* [http://www.telecom.co.nz Telecom New Zealand official website]
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