Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone was "a little scared" of AI-driven news aggregation platform Artifact at first but became a "huge fan."
Why it matters: Yahoo bought Artifact, which was started by Instagram's co-founders, in early April and is building a new product together, Lanzone told Kia Kokalitcheva Tuesday at Axios BFD in San Francisco.
- "I loved how that product worked. I thought it was really smart," Lanzone said of Artifact.
The big picture: Yahoo has been on an acquisition spree and focused on reinventing itself since being acquired by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management in May 2021.
- Lanzone, the former CEO of the dating app Tinder and a former CBS Interactive executive, has been Yahoo's CEO since September 2021.
Context: Yahoo was the third-largest digital media property by reach and unique visitors in March 2024, according to data from Comscore, trailing only Google and Microsoft.
What's next: Lanzone said he couldn't give a date of the launch with Artifact but said it's "not going to be too far out."
- One thing that doesn't appear to be coming in the near future is another IPO for Yahoo.
- "We have a lot of runway with the business itself being really healthy," Lanzone said. "I'm sure in the PE world there are timelines. But I don't think I was brought in to be the one to worry about those."
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