SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Yahoo Inc., operator of the world's most visited Web site, has hired a former executive from rival America Online to help run its expanding media division.

The Sunnyvale-based company said Tuesday that Shawn Hardin will join Yahoo next week as a vice president of content operations. He will report directly to Lloyd Braun, a former ABC television executive hired by Yahoo late last year. Braun oversees an effort to present more appealing material on its site as consumers continue to spend more of their free time online.

Hardin, 43, spent seven years at AOL, most recently serving as the company's senior vice president of broadband, before leaving that job earlier this year. His resume also includes many years in the film industry, as well as a stint as an executive vice president for NBC Internet.

Yahoo announced the hiring of another vice president of content operations earlier this month. Scott Moore, formerly general manager of programming for Microsoft Corp.'s MSN.com, also is starting his new job with Yahoo next week.

Both executives will be based in Santa Monica, where Yahoo is nearly tripling the size of its media division. An undisclosed number of Yahoo workers will move from Sunnyvale to the 123,800-square-foot office in Santa Monica in September, company spokeswoman Joanna Stevens said.

The expansion of the media group has raised questions about whether Yahoo wants to begin producing more of the content that appears on its Web site. The company currently licenses most of the material from other sources.