Verizon’s media company Oath hired Vanessa Wittman as CFO, replacing Holly Hess who is shifting to the parent company to help with the operator’s $10 billion cost cutting initiative.

Wittman, a former CFO of Dropbox and Motorola, brings a wealth of financial experience at technology and media companies. In addition to her CFO duties, Oath said she will work with CEO Tim Armstrong on strategic expansion efforts.

In a statement, Armstong called Wittman (pictured, left) an “exceptional leader” and noted she joins Oath “at an exciting point in our journey to build a differentiated company creating the future of mobile and the internet in combination with Verizon”.

Armstrong praised outgoing CFO Hess as a “founding force” at Oath and a key driver behind Verizon’s AOL acquisition in 2015. She also led the Oath team through the close of Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo in 2017. Hess will now head Verizon’s $10 billion cost cutting programme, reporting to Verizon CFO Matthew Ellis.

2020 goals
During an analyst meeting in May 2017, Armstrong laid out three primary goals Verizon wants Oath to hit by 2020: attracting more than 2 billion consumers and 10 million creators, and generating revenue in the $10 billion to $20 billion range.

In Q4 2017, Ellis reported Oath revenue totalled $2.2 billion. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said during an earnings call the company plans to leverage its Oath assets to meet increased demand for “internet information services and video” in a 5G world.