New York— Besieged Internet portal Yahoo Inc.’s prolonged search for Chief Executive Jerry Yang’s successor is just around the corner. According to reports in WSJ.com, Yahoo! Inc. has culled up a list of candidates for new chief executive officers who namely are: Autodesk Inc. Executive Chairwoman Carol Bartz, Yahoo President Susan Decker and a third executive, a person familiar with the matter said.
According to the grapevine, among the candidates who are not interested in Yahoo’s top position are Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of News Corp., Arun Sarin, former chief executive of Vodafone Group, and ex-AOL chief executive Jon Miller also said he was not interested.
But the odyssey has been ruined by questions about the company’s strategy, besides the mass migration of top talent and the fallout from Yahoo’s rejection of Microsoft’s takeover bid.
Recruiters said the Sunnyvale Company is stressed out to find someone within the next few weeks, a final decision is expected before Yahoo’s earnings report on Jan. 27, and maybe as soon as next week, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are still under-wraps.
“Surely, in the future it is going to change from being a complex situation to being a company that is damaged,” said Jon Holman of San Francisco-based Holman Group.
A three-member board committee, operating with executive-search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., has culled out an initial list of about five candidates down to three. Yahoo’s remaining directors have begun to interview those candidates.
“It is a really hard search,” added John Sullivan, a recruiting expert who has advised Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. “I cannot remember a search in the valley where that many people have taken their name out of the running.”
Fortunately, so far two candidates have surfaced as the company’s probable next leader: Carol Bartz, who is ex-CEO of AutoDesk; and Susan Decker, Yahoo’s current president. Former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin has ruled himself out from consideration for the top job at Yahoo, according to press reports.
For its part, Yahoo remains mum on its leadership situation.
“We are declining to comment on all the speculation about this,” Kim Rubey, a Yahoo spokesperson, said in a statement. Colleen Rubart, a spokeswoman for Autodesk, said she had no knowledge of Bartz’s plans.
The company first began searching for a new CEO in November.
Bartz and Decker
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported the Internet advertising giant is considering hiring Carol Bartz, 60, ex-chief executive of AutoDesk, a San Rafael, Calif.-based maker of engineering design software, from 1992 to 2006. She is also a former Sun Microsystems executive and is a director at both Intel and Cisco Systems.
Another well known candidate being evaluated is: Susan Decker, executive vice president and CFO of Yahoo from 2000 to 2007. Prior to joining the company, she was global director of equity research at investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. She was with DLJ for 14 years.
Decker, evaluated by Yahoo as a candidate when Yang said he would step down in November, has gone through two rounds of interviews with the board, the person said. It’s still possible that Decker, 46, could emerge as Yahoo’s CEO, said the person, although some directors would like an outside candidate to give the company a fresh sense of direction.
However, neither candidate is the type of CEO Yahoo desperately needs, said Colin Gillis, director of research at TheStreet.com.
“Yahoo needs a charismatic, strong, visionary leader,” Gillis stated, “because the company has been beaten up, its morale is bruised, and the employees need to be told that they can win and that they are loved.”
Bartz, who currently chairs the board of her former business, is best known for its stuffy but useful architecture and engineering design package; would represent a shift for a Yahoo once run by Hollywood bigwig Terry Semel.
Although she may bring a considerable understanding of technology that could help reboot Yahoo on the innovation front — Bartz was a Sun Microsystems vice-president, and sits on the boards of Intel, Cisco and Sunnyvale-based backup service NetApp.
She has also been appointed by the President Bush’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and is a computer science grad.
However, according to Gillis, selecting Bartz as CEO would send a signal to Wall Street that Yahoo intends to try and reinvent itself and regain its place as a dominant presence on the Internet.
“I am not aware of what effect [Bartz’s appointment as CEO] would have in terms of a Microsoft deal, other than that a deal probably would not be done quickly, because she would want to examine her options,” Gillis speculated.
As for Decker, Gillis does not give her much chance of landing in the CEO spot.
“Susan Decker is a nonstarter,” he said. “Too many of the other shareholders, in my opinion, view her as a component of the old regime that has gotten Yahoo into the spot it is in.”
Mystery Third Candidate
The identity of the third candidate in not established as yet. But according to reports from people familiar with the matter are: former Vodafone Group Plc CEO Arun Sarin was among the people initially considered for the post; nevertheless, he withdrew his name from consideration last month.
The search committee consists of Yang, Chairman Roy Bostock and former Northwest Airlines Corp. Chairman Gary Wilson.
Yahoo said it would not discuss the CEO search, which has been very difficult by extensive belief that a new leader would quickly sell Yahoo’s search advertising business to Microsoft. Such a sale could require Yahoo to dramatically restructure its technology infrastructure and rethink its future as an independent company.
Yahoo needs a “go-get-’em guy” like Apple CEO Steve Jobs or Tim Johnson, head of sales at rival search engine powerhouse Google, Gillis said. “That is the caliber of candidate that would cause excitement at Yahoo again.”
Yahoo wants to name the eventual winner, whoever he or she may be, as early as next week, though the board has not yet offered the job to anyone and drawing up a contract could take weeks.
The next CEO, whosoever would replace co-founder Jerry Yang, faces the challenge of charting a course for Yahoo after the Internet company rejected a bid from Microsoft Corp. of as much as $47.5 billion last year. Yahoo’s 11-member board will meet to discuss the remaining candidates soon, the person said. The meeting is not scheduled for this weekend.
Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, rose 6 cents to $13.13 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.