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Yahoo names tech veteran Carol Bartz as new CEO
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-14 10:02 Despite Bartz's resume, she will likely face questions about whether she is a good fit at Yahoo because she lacks any background in advertising -- the primary source of Yahoo's income. Bartz brushed aside that concern. "I suspect I have the brainpower to understand media," she said. "I also suspect there are people here that can help jump-start my education." Yahoo also is far larger than Autodesk, with annual revenue of more than $7 billion and roughly 13,000 employees, nearly twice the size of Autodesk's work force. As one of the first women to run a technology company, Bartz is used to being underestimated. Even after she had been Autodesk's CEO for years, some of her male counterparts occasionally mistook her for an administrative assistant while she was attending industry conferences. Before graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1971 with a degree in computer science, Bartz was a cheerleader, homecoming queen and a cocktail waitress -- a job that helped pay her college tuition. In her corporate life, Bartz talks more like a sailor, said Merchant, who recalls Bartz starting days with profanity-laced phone calls demanding to know why a sale hadn't been closed. After dressing down a worker, Bartz usually found a way to end the conversation on an encouraging note. "She always wanted to make sure the job got done," Merchant said. Bartz hasn't hesitated to get rid of employees incapable of executing her strategy. Within six months of taking over at Autodesk, she had purged its management ranks. If Yahoo turns its search operations over to Microsoft, many analysts expect the company to lay off thousands of workers to save money. As it is, Yahoo just dumped 1,500 workers to help shore up its profits during the recession. The company also has lost many top managers during the past two years as Yahoo's malaise worsened. 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. Those two also share a boardroom together as directors at Internet gear maker Cisco Systems Inc. "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 won't be Bartz's first daunting challenge. When Autodesk hired her in 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. To compound her initial problems at Autodesk, Bartz was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after taking the job. She had a mastectomy and was back in the office in four weeks.
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