Mitch Lazar
Vice President Business Development
Yahoo!, Inc.
Mitch Lazar is Vice President Business Development for Yahoo!, Inc. Based in London, he is responsible for the company’s “Connected Life” business development, driving distribution partnerships with European mobile operators, broadband providers and digital home companies.
The Connected Life business unit encompasses Yahoo!’s broadband, mobile, digital home and PC client businesses, including strategic alliances with some of the world’s largest telecommunications and cable companies as well as global device manufacturers such as Nokia, British Telecom, SBC, Verizon and BellSouth.
Lazar joined Yahoo! in November 2005, after 12 years at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a subsidiary of TimeWarner. He spent six years of that time in Europe. As Vice President, Wireless and Emerging Technology at Turner, Lazar was responsible for the company’s global wireless strategy for CNN, Cartoon Network and TCM, among other Turner channels. At the same time he worked for America Online for three years leading the Internet portal with its international content distribution efforts in the mobile sector.
Lazar also led the roll out of Cartoon Network’s wireless products and services across the globe, taking Turner’s entertainment assets mobile and launching Cartoon Network games and television services with carriers around the world.
Prior to that, Lazar oversaw Turner’s new media business development for its Internet, broadband, wireless, and enhanced and interactive television services in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In 1998, he pioneered and launched CNN Mobile, Turner’s first global news and information service for the wireless world, partnering with more than 125 mobile carriers and equipment manufacturers worldwide. He was also one of the founders of CNN.com when the service launched in 1995.
Lazar began his career as a journalist in local television in the United States and then moved to South Korea, serving as anchor, producer and editor for the English language service of the Korean Broadcasting System in Seoul. He later joined CNN as a writer and producer for Headline News in 1993.
A native of Miami, Florida, Lazar is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism at Columbia. Before relocating to London, he studied at Georgia State University working on his master’s degree in business administration.
