Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz today said she had been fired from the top spot. Using her iPad to send the news, she told staff that the Chairman of the Board Roy Bostock had dropped her “over the phone.”
Extra sources pointed to CFO Tim Morse stepping in as CEO until a more permanent replacement was found. The AllThingsD tip also had founder Jerry Yang involved in pushing Bartz out.
Bartz’s inability to snap Yahoo’s financial funk, along with recent setbacks in an online search partnership with Microsoft Corp. and an investment in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group, proved to be her downfall. Some have also pointed to Bartz’ at times legendary bluntness and rough language even on results calls, which has been at least polarizing.
Yahoo has now replaced three CEOs in a little over four years. During that time, Yahoo has been losing ground in the Internet ad race to online search leader Google Inc. and Facebook even though its website remains among the world’s most popular. Her ouster comes with 16 months left on a four-year contract that she signed in January 2009.
