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]two months to find a replacement for ousted co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang, but it appears the company has settled on former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz [ADSK
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] , with CNBC now independently confirming the choice. Shares initially climbed about 1 percent on the news but quickly settled back as investors began to digest whether Bartz would indeed be the best executive at the right time for the struggling internet pioneer. Speculation about Bartz transition into Yahoo's C-suite began circulating last week, and while her name initially sparked raised eyebrows, executives and insiders I spoke with seemed to indicate that the choice made sense.
As I reported last week, I spoke to a number of top level executives at Microsoft [MSFT
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] who told me they'd welcome the opportunity to work with Bartz should she be named as Yahoo's new CEO. Their thinking was that a software industry veteran with little to no media experience could become a Microsoft ally in getting a deal done for Yahoo's Search business. One executive I spoke to said that Yahoo had already hired a former media insider, Terry Semel, who filled the bill nicely until Google began to gain enormous momentum in the marketplace, and Yahoo began to lose its way. It was unlikely, this executive said, that Yahoo would name a new media executive to replace Yang.
I spoke to one Yahoo investor this morning, Eric Jackson, the activist shareholder who ran a campaign to oust Semel, and later Yang, about his thoughts about a new Bartz regime at the company. "Dubious," he says. She has no media experience and she has established ties to Yahoo President Sue Decker, serving with her on Intel's board of directors; and Jerry Yang, serving with him on Cisco Systems' board [CSCO
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] . Further, he said Yahoo's board simply couldn't choose Decker for the role because it would send the message that Yahoo couldn't find any outsider who would take the job as CEO. As far as increasing his position in Yahoo, he says he's taking a wait-and-see on what happens next, but he was hardly enthusiastic about the choice.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay calls the Bartz choice "uninspired," that it's "not about technology; it's about advertising," and that it will take her months to get her up to speed. Wunderlic Securities' analyst Martin Pykkonnen says her naming makes a Search deal with Microsoft far more likely, and that someone of Bartz's stature taking the top job sends a clear message that Yahoo is determined to remain independent.
However, I would offer that Bartz, 60, is hardly an executive choice for the "long term" and she might be there to streamline operations, inspire efficiencies, drive innovations, help raise the stock so that Yahoo might be able to command a higher price than it can currently get today. My colleague Scott Wapner brought up a great point which is that Autodesk has completed several deals recently and that Bartz the dealmaker could do wonders in getting a deal done for Yahoo Search, if not the entire company some time down the road.
Meantime, another well known internet analyst who didn't want to be quoted by name because he hasn't released his report on this news yet, says no matter what, Bartz is far better than anything Yahoo has had for some time, a swipe at Yang and his predecessor Terry Semel.
And then what happens to Sue Decker? She was passed over, has been passed over, for the top job for months. Not only was she passed over for someone else, she was passed over for another female executive. Not that gender should matter in such situations, but that's got to be terribly disappointing for someone like Decker, even though I'm told she has a very good professional and personal relationship with Bartz. Does Bartz's appointment mean Decker's on her way out? Possibly. I don't think that's a forgone conclusion, however. But I wouldn't be surprised if Sue announces her new role as a top executive to Warren Buffett, seeing as she serves on Berkshire Hathaway's board as well.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes