Yahoo and Apple snap up execs from Google and Amazon

Yahoo and Apple drew headlines Monday with a pair of high-profile executive hires.

The ailing web giant said that it would be appointing former Google executive Henrique de Castro as its chief operating officer. While Amazon's William Stasior has reportedly been hired by Apple as the head of its Siri unit.

AllThingsD cited company sources in reporting that Stasior would be leaving Amazon's A9 business unit in order to take over the development direction of the iOS personal assistant platform.

An update to Siri was part of an iOS 6 update which was widely panned by critics. With users lamenting the company for its underwhelming Maps platform in particular chief executive Tim Cook was moved to issue a public apology.

Yahoo, meanwhile, tapped the former company of chief executive Marissa Mayer to find its new chief operating officer.

The company said that former Google head of partner business solutions Henrique de Castro would be joining the company by 22 January of 2013 in the COO role.

The company said that de Castro's responsibilities would include overseeing the company's business strategy as well as sales and operations.

"Henrique is an incredibly accomplished and rigorous business leader, and I'm personally excited to have him join Yahoo's strong leadership team," Mayer said of the company's latest hiring.

"His operational experience in internet advertising and his proven success in structuring and scaling global organizations make him the perfect fit for Yahoo as we propel the business to its next phase of growth."