BuzzFeed has recruited the head of Tumblr’s native advertising business, Lee Brown, to the role of chief revenue officer.

In a memo seen by Re/code, BuzzFeed president Greg Coleman, Brown will be responsible for “driving business globally with new and existing revenue streams”.

He joins from his role as global head of brand partnerships at Yahoo, where he is credited with growing Tumblr’s native advertising revenues.

Brown first joined Yahoo in the 90s, holding a range of positions before becoming regional vice president in 2007. In 2010, he left for Groupon, where he held the role SVP national sales, before returning to Yahoo in 2012.

Brown replaced Andy Wiedlin, who left BuzzFeed at the end of last year.

In the memo, Coleman wrote: “2015 is off to a great start and we already have some exciting news. We are scaling our business in a big way with the hire of Lee Brown who has accepted the role of chief revenue officer.

“Bringing over two decades of sales experience and leadership to BuzzFeed, Lee will be responsible for driving business globally with new and existing revenue streams. He is no stranger to leveraging technology and great storytelling to solve partners’ challenges.”