Yahoo Inc names Carol Bartz as new CEO

by Sanjay Jha | January 13, 2009 at 09:28 pm

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Yahoo was finding very difficult to find a successor to Jerry Yang as chief executive. But they have managed to zeroed on Carol Bartz as the new boss. But critics says she isn't exactly inspiring.

Ms. Bartz is a former Autodesk CEO and have got a formdiable task of shaping up the company during the current economic downturn.

On her inaugural day on the job, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz sized up her new employer as a company "with great assets that could use a little management."

And she expects to bring that to Yahoo. "I love leading. I love managing and making decisions," she said during a call with media and analysts before heading off to her first manager's meeting.

Bartz, chief executive of Autodesk from 1992 to 2006, was announced late yesterday as Yahoo's choice to replace outgoing CEO Jerry Yang. President Sue Decker, who was a contender for the post, will resign from the company after a transition period.

Bartz was asked how her technology background will play out at a company in the media business.

"Media versus technology, that's a lot of nonsense," she replied. "I'm a technology person. I'm a market-driven person. I love customers. I suspect I have a little brain power to learn to understand media. I suspect there are fantastic people here in the company and on the board [of directors] who can jumpstart my education."

Bartz said it's too early to discuss Yahoo's future, including whether it should do a search deal, divest any businesses, or cut costs. And she won't be drawing any conclusions until she talks to Yahoo's employees.