It looks like once again I’ve got some good timing going on here. Just weeks after I called out Steve Denton, LinkShare’s senior vice president of Client Development and Distribution Services, as the smartest man in any room, seems like there are some executives at Japan-based Rakuten who feel the same way.

Today Denton was named president of LinkShare, following the resignations of Chairman and CEO Stephen Messer and President and COO Heidi Messer, who led LinkShare’s development from its founding in 1996 through its $425 million sale to Rakuten in late 2005.

Denton will lead all day-to-day operations including management and continuous development of the talent and processes required to drive LinkShare’s continued growth. He will report to John J-H Kim, CEO of Rakuten USA and Executive Vice President of International Business Headquarters.

Here is a quote from Steve Messer that was included in the press release that crossed the wires this morning.

“Heidi and I are proud of the successful company that we, along with a great team of employees, have been able to build in a few short years,” said Messer. “As we go forward to take on new challenges, we are pleased that Steve Denton will be taking on a strong company, with talented people in place and a new range of global resources to fuel its future.”

Not exactly what I expected given that I interviewed Messer the day after the LinkShare sale to Rakuten.

At that time Messer said the he planned to stick around as did Heidi Messer.

“They plan to use Heidi and I as the core of the strategy to enter the market. From our perspective this is not about us leaving or cashing out,” he says. Instead, he’s looking forward to helping to “take the company to the next level.” Where LinkShare will compete with MSN, Google and Yahoo.”

I’ll post more as I get the info. lisap@revenuetoday.com