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Bartz to Be Yahoo CEO: Now What Next?
Posted Jan 13, 2009 01:22pm EST by Kara Swisher in Investing, Internet, Newsmakers
From All Things Digital, Jan. 13, 2009:
It looks like Carol Bartz will be taking on the thankless role as new Yahoo CEO.
Sources close to the situation told BoomTown–which had first named the former Autodesk CEO the top pick last week–said she had been approved for the job and had accepted it.
The Wall Street Journal is also reporting the move.
The pick is one of the safest Yahoo could have made, which is typical for it, choosing an experienced and strong public company CEO, but one without a lot of experience in advertising or the Web 2.0 Internet.
In a reaction piece to the possibility of making Bartz the CEO of Yahoo I posted last week, the reaction was mixed, with some lauding it as an important move to steady the long troubled company, while other calling it problematic for the leader to not have a deep Web background.
One thing is sure: Bartz does know tech, unlike former CEO Terry Semel. And she also knows how to run a company like clockwork, unlike outgoing CEO Jerry Yang, who–while inspirational–has had a rocky tenure.
With an upcoming fourth quarter that is likely to be a disasters, Bartz will have a lot on her plate, including working out a much expected deal with Microsoft and deciding what to do about the constipated deal to buy Time Warner online unit, AOL.
More on Bartz's background
Bartz is certainly an experienced and very well-regarded tech exec, with the talent to turn things around. She served as chairman, president and CEO for 14 years at the San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk, which makes design software for engineers.
While there, Bartz presided over huge growth at Autodesk (ADSK), stepping down in April of 2006, and has since served as its executive chairman.
She also put in stints at other big tech companies, including Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Digital Equipment Corporation and 3M (MMM).
According to her resume on Autodesk’s Web site, Bartz holds an honors degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin.
More interestingly, Bartz is also on the boards of a blue chip list of companies and organizations, including Intel (INTC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), NetApp (NTAP), and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology.
Yang is also on the board of Cisco, and Yahoo President Sue Decker is on Intel’s, so Bartz is a well known quantity to Yahoo.
She is also exactly the kind of serious, seasoned public company CEO with tech experience whom Yahoo’s board has told investors and others it is looking for, with skills to pull off mergers and think strategically.
But Bartz also was in charge of a more old-school kind of tech company, and has less experience in the faster-moving Web environment that prevails now.
Although she toughed it out successfully, Bartz underwent tough times during the Web 1.0 era, in fact, when investors were worried about Autodesk’s prospects in the online era.
Still, Bartz also has less advertising experience, which is Yahoo’s principal business.
Nonetheless, she is well-liked in the tech community and has ties to key companies Yahoo must deal with, including Microsoft.
For more news, go to All Things Digital.
41 Comments
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:40PM EST
Bartz is gonna get in there and mix it up with that internet thing and not the left wing finance media get all up there as you know but to fix the things the customers want like a maverick and be this and that to the web people in the community.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:41PM EST
It all translates to sales, is she going to bring in the companies to keep yahoo afloat? Eh, the photo looks proportionately distorted.
mr_jaffy - Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:42PM EST
Autodesk is strong because of her vision.. Yahoo should come out of the dark with Carol at the helm... Great pick!!! Congrats Carol!!
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:43PM EST
Yes, I do believe that Kara should take a course in how to use Spell Checker and Grammar Checker. (Hint: In Word, they are the first choice under Tools. Once you master that, you can use the shortcut key, F7)
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:45PM EST
It all translates to sales, is she going to bring in the companies to keep yahoo afloat?
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:46PM EST
well as the article said "she also know how to run a company" She sure dun do billy bob.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:51PM EST
I'd hit that... with the fist of an angry God... who cares if she can run a company or not?
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:53PM EST
my trivial comment: these first six are silly comments by the commentators.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:57PM EST
I agree that the spelling errors distract from the message, but the use of the word "constipated" in this article wins the prize for poor use of an adjective. Surely there were other more appropriate words that could have been used. These errors are prime examples of why computers will never replace a good high school education. LOL P.S. Way to go Carol. Congratulations on your new job. Looking forward to some improvements at Yahoo.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:02PM EST
Late of Autodesk? Sounds good to me. Forget WSJ - go for it, Bartz!
Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:13PM EST
I’m sure Kara Swisher has a “good attitude”. That’s how we describe incompetence these days.
Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:22PM EST
Bartz can only be a nice change from Yang, who despite Kara's statement that Yang is "inspirational" he has been anything but. Give me a break. Yang can put you to sleep. Check out that web site that rates CEO's by their employees Kara! Yang is rated 'fair to poor'. Perhaps Kara is trying to get a Yang 'exit' interview. Sooner the better I say.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:53PM EST
What the hell? I post it and it says "Sorry. There was an error posting your comment. Please try again later." and now I see all my posts are here? I didn't mean to spam, but it's today's Yahoo!'s fault. This wasn't deliberate. My apologies.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:27PM EST
Don't seem to know how quite well but given her expertise in technology, it should help this company going forward as oppose to the turmultious period under Jerry Yang. The company needs some strong leadership because of it's strategic position in the information technology and it's significant role it plays on the www.
- Tuesday January 13, 2009 03:36PM EST
I think her tech background will help her attract and retain tech workers. However, Y!'s engineering quality is not their most serious problem. Their most serious problem is that Google is Search, and has effectively captured the users and advertisers. My general feeling is that Google cannot be competed against in search, even with the depressed economy. However, there are technologies Y! can get in on the ground floor on, and take the lead in. This is an opportunity to put those tech folks to work on something new, creative, and exciting. However, if she insists that Y! should overtake Google in search, she is going to be in for as difficult a time as her predecessors.
Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday January 13, 2009 02:28PM EST
What a joke. Anybody with a stake in Yahoo!, get out while the stock is still worth something. I have been an AutoCAD user for over 6 years, and if there is ONE thing that company knows how to do, is to IGNORE their users. The ONLY reason people still use the software (even though there are much better products out there), is that it is the industry standard. She will run Yahoo! into the ground, since it ISN'T the industry standard.
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- Tuesday January 13, 2009 01:34PM EST
Wow Autodesk, that should help.