Although many probably saw this move coming for quite some
time, Carol Bartz made it official this afternoon that she is out as Yahoo's
CEO. The often abrasive Bartz has made a number of enemies during her tenure as
CEO -- including
Michael Arrington -- and definitely hasn’t
made any friends on Wall Street.
Bartz announced her "change of job status" in an
email to Yahoo employees according to TechCrunch:
To all,
I am very sad to tell
you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board.
It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best
going forward.
Carol
Sent from my iPad
The Yahoo Board of Directors has appointed Timothy Morse as
the interim Chief Executive Officer in place of Bartz. The Board is also forming
an Executive Leadership Council to find a permanent CEO for the beleaguered
search company.
"It is an honor to be selected for this role and lead
the Company with this world-class team of executives," said Morse. "I
look forward to working with the Executive Leadership Council and the talented
employees of Yahoo!, and to partnering with the Board to invest in the
organization and continue to drive its ongoing growth plans."
Despite the changing of the guard, Yahoo Board Chairman Roy
Bostock is confident in the company's ability to change things around so that
it can better compete with dominant player Google:
The Board sees
enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary
objective is to leverage the Company's leadership and current business assets
and platforms to execute against these opportunities. We have talented teams
and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path
of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring
and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a
trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders.
Not surprisingly, after hours trading for Yahoo is up on the
news of Bartz' ouster. The stock is up just over 6 percent to
$13.72.
