The Mercury News has appointed Maria Shao was interim business editor and hired three reporters to replace those who have left in the past few months, according to the Society of American Business Editors and Writers Web site. In addition to being appointed interim editor, Shao was promoted to deputy business editor/enterprise. She has been at the Merc since 2000 after previously working at the Boston Globe, Business Week, Asian Wall Street Journal and the Wall Street Journal. Todd Woody resigned as business editor in May after seven months on the job to become assistant managing editor of Busines 2.0.

Despite the fact that the Merc has announced that it will cut 40 jobs from its newsroom by December, the paper has hired three business reporters:

• Constance Loizos, who previously worked at the Venture Capital Journal and Private Equity Week, will cover venture capital and startups, succeding Matt Marshall, who is leaving to write his blog VentureBeat (which the Merc will syndicate).

• Ryan Blitstein, formerly of SF Weekly and Red Herring, will become a general assignment business reporter.

• Troy Wolverton, formerly of The Street.com, will cover consumer electronics and entertainment, succeeding John Boudreau, who will now cover globalization, a new beat.