Patrick Barry, the head of Yahoo’s Connected TV group, announced his staff in a mail sent on the morning of October 12 that he is leaving at the end of the month. It looks like he plans to “move on to new projects.” Josh Jacobs is also leaving although there is no apparent connection between him and Patrick. Josh is the head of ad technology platforms.

What is this “Connected TV” you ask? Yahoo made some deals with TV manufacturers Samsung and Sony to bring Web widgets to your TV. This is the Connected TV product. This is a vital part of Yahoo’s plan to connect the consumers to the Internet and to highly relevant information. Below, you can find Patrick Barry’s mail to his staff. We must add, this man did a great job at Yahoo!

From: Patrick Barry
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:01:01 -0700
To: Connected Team
Cc: Tapan Bhat, XXX
Subject: Moving on
Connected TV Team,

After 5 great years here at Yahoo, it is time for me to move on to new projects and aspirations. I am tremendously proud of all we have accomplished together, from defining the world’s best user experience for interactive television, to shipping our technology platform on millions devices with some of the biggest brands in the industry. You have been an amazing team, and I will treasure the great times we have had working together to overcome challenges and make an impact for Yahoo. I remain a big believer in our vision for the future of television, and I would not be leaving now if I didn’t have faith in your ability to continue to achieve our goals and extend that vision.
Thank you for the hard work, passion and commitment over these several years. I will miss you all.
I will continue to be here through the end of the month to help make sure our plans and partnerships stay on track. Please join Tapan and I on Monday morning at 9:30 in Chutes so we can answer any questions you might have about my transition.

Patrick