Yahoo Inc. said on Friday it has hired the former general manager of the programing group at Microsoft Corp.'s MSN unit to be its vice president of content operations.

Scott Moore will be based in Santa Monica, California, and report to Yahoo Media Group leader Lloyd Braun. Moore will join the company on May 2 and oversee a number of media sites within the group, Yahoo said.

Earlier in his career, Moore had been publisher of Slate, the Internet magazine recently sold by Microsoft to the Washington Post.

Yahoo, which is expanding in Southern California amid a move closer to Hollywood's entertainment companies, has been led by former studio chief Terry Semel since 2001.

Yahoo hired Braun, a former chairman of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC Entertainment Television Group, in November.

The Silicon Valley company, which reaps most of its revenue from advertising, is actively seeking content deals as it moves to broaden into entertainment and beyond such staples as shopping, e-mail and Web search.