LinedIn names Weiner new CEO

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 24 (UPI) -- California's online networking service LinkedIn said Wednesday that former Yahoo! Inc., executive Jeff Weiner would serve as its new chief executive officer.

Weiner had served as the interim president since January. His departure from Yahoo! was part of the fallout of a proxy war with activist investor Carl Icahn, who was pushing for Yahoo! to accept an unsolicited bid from Microsoft Corp. a year ago.

Former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman will remain with the company as the executive chairman, MarketWatch reported.

"Over the past six months, Jeff has done an exceptional job leading the company and I look forward to continuing the work that we have begun together," Hoffman said.

Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang also left the company last year. When he resigned, Weiner was considered a top candidate for that job, but Yahoo! appointed former Chairman, President and CEO of software design firm Autodesk Carol Bartz to the position in January.