Today Yahoo announced that PayPal President Scott Thompson is its new CEO and will start on Monday.

In hiring Thompson Yahoo gets someone who has never ran an online media company or an online advertising company or really anything that Yahoo does (see below for his work history)

“Scott brings to Yahoo a proven record of building on a solid foundation of existing assets and resources to reignite innovation and drive growth, precisely the formula we need at Yahoo,” said Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement today.

“”Yahoo has a rich history and a solid foundation to build on, and its continued user engagement is one of the many reasons for my enthusiasm. With the ultimate goal of delivering the value our shareholders expect, my immediate focus will be on getting to know the entire team and hearing more from all Yahoos, working closely with the engineers and product teams, and diving deeply into our products and services to learn more about what our more than 700 million users find most engaging and useful. I will also be working directly with our region leaders and sales teams globally to get a clearer understanding of the needs of our advertisers and publishers. Clearly, speed is important but we will attack both the opportunity ahead and the competitive challenges with an appropriate balance of urgency and thoughtfulness.””

“Thompson “will work closely with the Board as we continue the strategic review process to identify the best approaches for the company and its shareholders. As part of this process, Yahoo is considering a wide range of opportunities for the company’s business, as well as specific investments or dispositions of assets,” Bostock said.

Before working at PayPal, Thompson was the executive vice president who ran technology development at Visa’s Inovant subsidiary, which handled technology matters for the credit card company. Prior to that, he was chief information officer of Barclays Global Investors.

So it appears that Thompson has never worked for a company in a management position that is in the online content, advertising or media business or anything to what Yahoo does.

Shares of Yahoo are down 2.5% on the news