Makeup mogul Bobbi Brown 

set to to take over Yahoo's beauty section

Yahoo have announced that Bobbi Brown will become

Editor in Chief of Yahoo Beauty later this month.

She will still continue in her role as

Chief Creative Officer of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.

The announcement of Bobbi's hiring came a week after reports that Yahoo was going to give their 'Shine' lifestyle section (which focuses on women) a massive overhaul.

In their statement, Yahoo said that Bobbi Brown will 

"lead editorial direction, original content and the expansion and re-imagination” of the section".

In the same statement, Bobbi Brown said

“As [editor-in-chief], I’ll work to curate smart, strong content that will teach women how to be their best selves. Of course, it goes without saying that this new role will never take me away from my first love – Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. I’ll continue as Chief Creative Officer of the company, and am confident that the two positions will inform and strengthen each other.”

Bobbi Brown Cosmetics

Bobbi founded and now leads Bobbi Brown cosmetics, which is owned by Estée Lauder. Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is thought to be responsible for over ten per cent of Estée Lauder's sales. Average annual sales at Lauder are estimated at $10.7 billion so Bobbi Brown Cosmetics is a BIG money spinner.

Not everyone is impressed by Yahoo's new signing. Kelly McBride, who is a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute and who co-authored 'The New Ethics of Journalism' said

"The thing that's surprising about this is it creates an absolutely obvious conflict of interest. The reason that people would turn to Yahoo Beauty is for independent news and analysis on a specialty topic. If you have an editor who has a vested financial interest in a product line, news consumers are automatically going to assume that that product line gets preferential treatment. And so it doesn't even matter if it actually does get preferential treatment, the perception alone will damage Yahoo's credibility."

When asked to comment on this, Yahoo released this statement: 

"Yahoo has very strict editorial guidelines and Yahoo Beauty will adhere to these standards just like all of our sites."

Yahoo Hiring Big Names... 

Bobbi Brown is the latest big name hired by Yahoo. Last November the company hired television news personality Katie Couric, allegedly for a salary of $6 million!. 

Yahoo also has hired former New York Times journalist David Pogue as a technology columnist.

We will watch developments at Shine and at Bobbi Brown Cosmetics with interest! Let's hope Bobbi hasn't bitten off more than she can chew!