Former executive of Microsoft Corp., Jeff Dossett, has been hired by Yahoo Inc. to run the Internet giant's media operations. Dossett, an accomplished mountain climber, was most recently the general manager of Microsoft's MSN. com.

Dossett joins in place of another former Microsoft alumnus, Scott Moore, whose resignation is the latest in a series of high-level departures at the company this year. He will report to report to Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo US.

About Dossett, Schneider opines: "Jeff is one of the country's most experienced online media executives, and I'm confident he is well-suited to lead Yahoo's audience business to even greater heights."

The resignation of Moore - who is leaving to pursue other opportunities - suggests the company has still not managed to stanch the bleeding of executive talent following an exodus of top managers.

Moore's departure comes just weeks before the company is expected to lay off about 10% of its staff as part of a cost-cutting purge. In fact, during the past two years, the Sunnyvale-based company has been struggling to snap out of a financial funk that has hammered its stock price.

Morale at the company has sagged over the past year, a period in which Yahoo has continued to lose search market share to rival Google Inc. and has seen its advertising business slump. Yahoo fended off a $47.5 billion hostile takeover attempt by Microsoft, but the company's fortunes have declined as the economy has weakened.