Mark Britt has been appointed to take over as chief executive of ninemsn, after outgoing CEO Joe Pollard departs the digital joint venture in September.

 

Mr Britt, who is currently Microsoft’s regional director for strategy and business development in the Asian region, was recruited after Ms Pollard announced her impending resignation in May.

 

ninemsn controls extensive assets across Australia and New Zealand, including the ninemsn service, Windows Live, Bing, Cudo as well as a number of other investments.

 

"Mark is an exceptional executive with significant experience both in the Australian market and across Asia," ninemsn chairman Pat O'Sullivan said in a statement last Thursday.

 

"Mark has been an integral contributor to the ninemsn board of directors over many years and has a deep understanding of shareholder expectations and the continued opportunity for market leadership for the Group."

 

Mr Britt has flagged his intention to drive an acquisition-driven policy, and a more integrated approach to running the business’s operations.

 

"If you look at Ninemsn's history, it is probably the most diversified set of digital businesses, certainly in the consumer space," Mr Britt said.

 

"The interesting thing is it historically hasn't really been run as a group. It has been run as a single integrated businesses. Increasingly, we want to be able to share talent across the group and be able to go to agencies and advertisers with the end-to-end story.”

 

The ninemsn group has traditionally struggled to integrate its diverse folio of content, a problem that Mr Britt has said he will aim to resolve.

 

Mr Britt also highlighted the potential he sees for the National Broadband Network (NBN).

 

"The amount of change you will see over the next five years as the NBN is built and we get to ubiquitous connectivity will be huge," he said.

 

Mr Britt will assume his new role as of September 1.