The 49ers yesterday named Khosla Ventures General Partner GIDEON YU Chief Strategy Officer. Yu will be responsible for maximizing the team’s strategic and business prospects, as well as developing new businesses and revenue streams. He will work closely on the team's Santa Clara stadium project, and will identify and integrate new technology into the new facility. Yu previously served as CFO of Facebook and YouTube, and as Senior VP & Treasurer of Yahoo (49ers). ESPN.com’s Mike Sando noted Yu “owns one of the more impressive resumes in the NFL or anywhere,” and his hiring “brightens the team’s prospects for building a new stadium and enjoying it upon completion.” Yu has known 49ers President & CEO JED YORK “for some time.” The two men serve on the BOD for Tipping Point, a “charity that fights poverty in the Bay Area” (ESPN.com, 4/26). In San Jose, Tim Kawakami wrote the arrival of Yu “signals a fairly large shift in the 49ers thinking about the Santa Clara stadium situation.” The 49ers “clearly need some new brainpower -- on the financing front for sure, and probably on several other levels.” Kawakami: “This is the start of something. Jed York is being realistic and creative with this hire, which are both good things. But it’s only the start and it’s immersed in the tough reality of the stadium situation” (MERCURYNEWS.com, 4/26).
