Web giant poaches Newsman

United States internet giant Google has poached a News Corp executive to run its sales and business development Downunder, Australian media report.

The Sydney Morning Herald says Nick Leeder, deputy chief executive of the Australian, will be Google's new managing director for Australia and New Zealand at the end of March as the technology company looks to boost its share of the A$2.2 billion ($2.8 billion) online ad market and meet the threat of possible regulatory intervention.

Leeder, 41, replaces Karim Temsamani, who left in October for a senior role at Google's Californian headquarters.

News Corp papers said the Australian's deputy editor in charge of business, Brett Clegg, would succeed Leeder and start on March 1, reporting to chief executive of News Digital Media and the Australian Richard Freudenstein.

Clegg, who has been at the Australian since June, would be responsible for commercial operations of the paper and its magazines, including sales, marketing and circulation.