Yahoo Labs boss bound for Google ahead of cuts – report

All Things Digital broke the news and said its sources had Raghavan headed for an undisclosed role at Google.

Yahoo confirmed Raghavan’s departure and said the company’s chief technology officer Ash Munshi would now be responsible for Yahoo Labs, whose work takes in everything from research into new search and internet technologies, to ad targeting and audience sciences.

According to a separate All Things Digital report, Yahoo’s new CEO Scott Thompson is about to embark on a massive restructuring of the company that will involve thousands of layoffs in areas like public relations, marketing and research.

Labs employs 228 people, eight of whom work in audience sciences, where their mission is “to understand our users by building profiles pertaining to their activities, interests, contributions, expertise, and reputation, so that we can optimise our users’ experiences and engagement”.

Advertising sciences, which is focused on finding ways to match web users with the most relevant ads, employs 51 people.