Yahoo! in Deal to Provide Mobile Services to Verizon

Yahoo! (YHOO Quote) said Tuesday it has signed a deal with Verizon Wireless to provide a range of Internet tools and services that would allow mobile Web subscribers to send and receive instant messages from their phones. The Internet giant also named a new top executive for its North American operations.

Financial terms of the Yahoo!-Verizon deal were not disclosed.

The alliance will allow Verizon Wireless Mobile Web customers to receive alerts for incoming messages and to receive alerts when friends go online or offline, as well as send messages in four different ways, Yahoo! said.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon (VZ Quote) and Britain's Vodafone (VOD Quote), also announced on Monday a third-generation, high-speed mobile deal with Lucent Technologies (LU Quote) worth $5 billion.

Separately, Yahoo! said it named Gregory G. Coleman, 46, executive vice president of North American operations. Coleman, who will report to Jeff Mallett, Yahoo!'s president and chief operating officer, will join the company in late April.

Coleman was previously the senior vice president and publisher of Reader's Digest and president of U.S. Magazine Publishing.

Shares of Yahoo! closed at $14.94 Monday on the Nasdaq, and recently gained 1.76% to $15.20 in pre-open Island trading. The shares are sharply off from their 52-week high of $205.63.