News Group head of communication strategy Paul Thompson is quitting the company and heading over to Yahoo Europe, where he has landed the position of head of planning and strategy, reports mediaweek.co.uk. Thompson, who was at News Group for three years, will fill the job left behind by Phil Macauley, who has moved on to head agency sales at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Thompson’s appointment is one of the first key hires for the company’s new UK and Ireland commercial director Warren Burke, who stepped into his job only in February this year. In the fall, Yahoo UK & Ireland was hit by a spate of high level exits, including Richard Firminger, its regional sales director and the head of its UK search operation, Stephen Haines, its head of agency strategy, and commercial director Blake Chandlee, who left to become commercial director of Facebook UK.

In other industry moves, search engine marketing platform Kenshoo has hired former NeoSearch@Ogilvy CEO Mike Chowney as its UK MD, reports nma.co.uk. Former lastminute.com founder and mydeco.com ceo Brent Hoberman joins the board as an advisory member.