Yahoo names a new top lawyer following predecessor’s departure

Yahoo has named a new general counsel following the resignation of its previous top lawyer in the wake of revelations that certain executives knew about a massive hack by a state-sponsored attacker before it entered a $4.8bn deal with Verizon last summer.

The company said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it had tapped Arthur Chong for the top legal post. He has served as an outside legal advisor to Yahoo since October 2016, and previously as special advisor to the law firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. From 2008 until February 2016, he was executive vice-president and geereanl counsel at semiconductor device manufacturer Broadcom.

Mr Chong is taking over from Ronald Bell, Yahoo’s former general counsel and secretary, who joined Yahoo from Apple in 1999 and resigned without any pay-offs earlier this month, after it was revealed that some senior executives may have known by 2014 about the hacks. Disclosure of the cyber attacks also led Verizon and Yahoo to agree to reduce their previously announced deal price from $4.8bn to $4.5bn.

Yahoo’s filing also laid out the leadership lineup for “Altaba”, the investment firm that will remain once the Verizon transaction is completed. Thomas McInerney, a current Yahoo board member, will serve as chief executive officer, and Mr Chong will be general counsel and secretary.

Rounding out the roster will be Alexi Wellman, who has serv ed as Yahoo’s global controller since October 2015 and will take over as Altaba’s chief financial and accounting officer, and De Ann Work, an outside legal advisor to Yahoo since 2016 who was previously deputy general counsel at Broadcom.