Google Grabs Yahoo Labs Head Prabhakar Raghavan

Many of the worker mice over at Yahoo are jumping ship looking for a safe, dry place to call home. Yahoo is almost certainly on the way out as stock prices shrink along with its share of the search market. Yahoo has now lost the head of its Labs unit who is leaving to take a job at Google. I would bet Prabhakar Raghavan's superiors aren't happy to see him go, especially to Google.

His departure reportedly comes ahead of expected cuts across the division, which handles long-term research. Cuts in the division are no surprise considering that Yahoo doesn't have a very good long-term outlook overall. The confirmation of Raghavan's departure came from Yahoo itself, there doesn't appear to be any bad blood.

There is no indication of exactly what new position Raghavan will be taking a Google. With all the research Google handles, it would seem apparent that he would be heading to Google's research arm. Raghavan's former position will be taken over by Yahoo CTO Ash Munshi.

Yahoo said in a statement: "Yahoo! thanks Prabhakar Raghavan for his dedication and contributions to Yahoo! for the past 7 years. We wish him well in his next endeavor. Ash Munshi, CTO, will assume leadership for Y! Labs."

[via AllThingsD]