San Francisco— Yahoo Inc. confirmed late yesterday that Silicon Valley’s Autodesk Inc Chairman Carol Bartz, who is best regarded as a no-nonsense female executive in business, took over the crumbling wheels of Yahoo! on Tuesday, professing to revive the ailing Internet firm and calling on critics to give it room to breathe — something that has puzzled the struggling Internet company during a three-year slump.
Yesterday we reported that Yahoo is in the process of evaluating candidates that included Bartz on the list, and official confirmation of her induction into Yahoo came after markets closed, and hours after news reports have moved.
Reaction among investors was unenthusiastic to the news, but Wall Street questioned whether the software executive has the experience needed to turn around the Internet media company. The announcement also revealed that President Sue Decker — who had been considered by many to be in line for the top job — will resign after a transitional period.
Sunnyvale-based Yahoo’s decision to lure Bartz, 60, from software maker Autodesk Inc. ends its prolonged search for a successor to co-founder Jerry Yang, who surrendered the CEO wheels after potentially lucrative deals with rivals Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. both collapsed, which brought up the ire of shareholders, stepped down in November. Yang remains “Chief Yahoo” at the company.
Without further delay, Bartz will take up her new position as CEO and a member of Yahoo’s board of directors, according to the company.
“We are very excited to have Carol Bartz leading Yahoo into its next era of growth. She is the exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that the board was looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a world-class talent to Yahoo,” said Roy Bostock, chairman of Yahoo’s board, in a statement. “She is admired in [Silicon] Valley, as well as on Wall Street, for her deep management expertise, strong customer orientation, excellent people skills, and firm understanding of the challenges facing our industry. Carol meets all of the criteria we set for the search and is the only person to whom we offered the job.”
The 60-year-old former executive of engineering design-software-maker Autodesk is considered as a “tough operator” who faces a host of challenges to turn the internet portal around.
“Yahoo is well known for its conservatism. This is a safe choice and at the same time it is sensible and not that exciting,” said Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal who runs the respected tech website AllThingsD.
“This is someone who knows how to run a company, but then she does not have much competition because Jerry Yang, as much as I like him, has been a disaster as a CEO,” Swisher said in a statement.
After giving a snap-shot of herself as a straight shooter, Bartz told analysts in a conference call that she intended to ensure Yahoo gets “some frigging breathing room” so the company can “kick some butt.” She said it would be presumptuous to share her vision for Yahoo on her first day on the job.
“It has been too crazy with everyone on the outside telling Yahoo! what it should and should not do and what is best for them, and that is going to stop.”
Bartz would succeed Yahoo!’s co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang, Bartz who relieved himself from the post last November after a rocky tenure and the failure of buyout talks with Microsoft Corp., the breakdown of an online advertising deal with Google Inc., and two rounds of layoffs. Yahoo was quick to announce that it had begun searching for a new leader.
“I would not have taken the job if I did not believe there was a huge opportunity here,” Bartz said before she had to hustle off to her first meeting with Yahoo’s top managers.
“The company has accomplished a great deal in its relatively short history, and I look forward to working together to take it to the next level,” said Bartz in a statement. “There is no denying that Yahoo has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees. We will seize that opportunity.”
Yang, who founded Yahoo! in 1994 with Stanford University classmate David Filo, intends to remain at Yahoo! and the board said his “iconic stature in the industry makes him an invaluable resource.”
Yahoo said Tuesday that Bartz, who led Autodesk as CEO for 14 years, transformed the company “into a leader in computer-aided design software. During her tenure as CEO, revenues increased from less than $300 million to more than $1.5 billion, and the company’s share price increased nearly tenfold.”
While announcing an end to the search for a new CEO, Yahoo! also announced that President Sue Decker, one of the contenders to succeed Jerry Yang as CEO, has resigned and will leave the company after a transitional period.
Other names that had been mentioned in the press as possible contenders include News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin and Arun Sarin, ex-CEO of Vodafone Group Plc.
Bostock added that the board “thanks Sue (Decker) for her service as President, the important contributions she has made to Yahoo’s development in a variety of roles over the past 8 1/2 years, and her willingness to work with Carol Bartz to ensure a smooth transition. We respect her decision to move on to other challenges and wish her only the best.” Decker was a close supporter of Yang.
Both Decker — who was hired by Yahoo in 2000 — and Bartz are on the Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. board of directors. Bartz also serves on the board of Cisco Systems Inc. board with Yang.
Bartz was president and CEO of Autodesk, a CAD software and services company, for 14 years before stepping down in 2006. Previously, she was an executive at Sun Microsystems Inc., Digital Equipment Corp. and 3M Corp.
“Bartz is the definition of ‘adult management’ and has shown that she could be able to grow companies through both good and bad times,” said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group Inc. “While she was at Autodesk, revenue multiplied by five times. She does not have any experience that is directly applicable to Yahoo, working mainly with tangible products. I actually believe this will be a benefit to the company. She will bring a forceful pragmatism that I believe is missing at Yahoo. I see her as a force that can change the culture at Yahoo, focusing the company’s efforts.”
Olds also noted that with Bartz on board at Yahoo, talks between Yahoo and Microsoft could be renewed.
“I would expect her to take a hard look at a potential deal and evaluate it on its business merits,” he added. “This is a contrast with previous management, where you had the feeling that they were much more interested in remaining independent from Microsoft at all costs.”
Shares of Yahoo fell 3.6 percent after news of Bartz’s appointment was reported on the Wall Street Journal’s website, but the stock recovered to end the day down just 1 percent at $12.10 as analysts said the end of the two-month CEO search could help bring some stability to the company.
Yahoo has struggled to maintain its hold on the Internet search advertising market against Google, and suffered a dizzying stock slide after rejecting Microsoft’s bid.
Bartz also will have to coexist with Yang, who will revert to his titular role of “Chief Yahoo” while remaining on the company’s board.
“I believe Carol is the ideal person to take Yahoo forward and I will be honored to assist her in any way she finds helpful,” Yang said.
This would not be Bartz’s first daunting challenge. When Autodesk hired her as CEO in 1992, the company was facing a shareholder revolt amid concerns that it was overly dependent on a single software product that accounted for nearly all its revenue. Now, Autodesk offers an array of design software and computer programs that help add special effects to movies and TV shows.
A glance at: High-tech Veteran Carol Bartz
- NAME: Carol Bartz.
- AGE: 60.
- EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, University of Wisconsin.
- TITLE: Named Tuesday as CEO at Yahoo Inc.
- CAREER: CEO of Autodesk Inc. from 1992 through 2006, when she became company’s executive chairman. Previously worked for 3M Co., Digital Equipment and Sun Microsystems Inc., serves on the boards of Intel Corp., Cisco Systems Inc., NetApp Inc. and the Foundation for the National Medals of Science and Technology.