Yahoo! has announced that Carol Bartz is to be the new CEO. Yahoo have been searching for a suitable candidate for two months. Carol Bartz is the former head of Autodesk Inc. and Yahoo hope that she can steer the company in the right direction to improve its chances of competing with Google once again.
Bartz, 60 years old, is to take over the role with immediate effect. Yahoo President Susan Decker, who had been considered for the job, will leave the company after a transitional period. Jerry Yang, who co-founded Yahoo in 1994, agreed in November to step down as head of the company.
Bartz, CEO of Autodesk from 1992 to 2006, faces the challenge of reviving Yahoo’s growth after the company spurned a $47.5 billion takeover attempt by Microsoft Corp. last year. She also has to learn a new business, Internet advertising, a switch from the design software sold by Autodesk. Yahoo ranks second to Google in Internet searches and online ads.
“She was an inoffensive, but largely unexciting candidate, someone who would be a steady hand at the wheel. But investors were hoping for a lot more than that,” said Jeff Lindsay, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York. “She’s undoubtedly a competent and able executive. The problem is, is she the right fit for the job?”
The Yahoo board had been informally discussing three leading candidates over the past few weeks, a person familiar with the matter said. Bartz met with director Carl Icahn in New York before Christmas, the person said.
