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To: Carol Bartz From: One member of the punditocracy Subject: Rebuilding Yahoo

Welcome to your new job as Yahoo's CEO.

As you probably guessed by how rapidly Jerry Yang slipped to footnote status in yesterday's stories, we're all glad to see you and eager to move on to the next phase of the news cycle. And judging by the fact that Yahoo's stock rose more than 2 percent to $12.41 today when most everybody else's went down, the shareholders are extending you some goodwill, too.

I know you requested some "breathing room" from us nattering nabobs … Read more

Yahoo investors weighed in with cautious optimism Wednesday following the appointment of former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz as the embattled company's chief executive.

Yahoo, which formally announced Bartz as its new chief executive after the markets closed Tuesday, climbed as high as 3.2 percent during morning trading Wednesday to $12.49 a share, while the broader markets were down.

While noting that Bartz, for the most part, lacks name recognition beyond Silicon Valley and has little experience with media companies and the Internet, investors pointed to her reputation as a strong operator as boding well for Yahoo's … Read more

Carol Bartz's first appearance as Yahoo's new CEO was short, but she came out guns-a-blazin'. Autodesk's former CEO and executive chairman clearly wants to be seen as an assertive executive, not a shrinking violet.

During a 20-minute call with press and analysts, Bartz mostly stuck to a predictable script--Yahoo's valuable assets, strong employees, shareholder value, blah blah blah--and avoided any mention of strategic options such as selling Yahoo's search business to Microsoft.

But she showed flashes of liveliness that, doubtless not accidentally, helped present her as a straight-talking character who's firmly seized the reins. … Read more

Corporate fixes are notoriously hard. Parachuting into the equivalent of a war zone, with potential landmines at every turn, requires a special gene. And no small amount of brass.

So it is that after a year of corporate upheaval and a slumping stock price, Yahoo announced a brilliant appointment. I don't know if Carol Bartz will turn out to be the messiah-like figure the Yahoo crowd has been praying for. This company is up against the wall. But the new CEO is an old-school technology executive who has thrived in crises that would have overwhelmed most of the good … Read more

Carol Bartz, Autodesk's former executive chairman, has replaced Jerry Yang as Yahoo's chief executive.

"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," Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said in a statement Tuesday. "The board is united in its view that her energetic and decisive leadership style, coupled with a proven track record of driving growth, operational excellence and shareholder value, is exactly what Yahoo needs to get back on a path toward achieving its full potential."

Bartz, 60, spent 14 years as Autodesk's CEO before becoming executive chairman in 2006. At Yahoo, Bartz's challenges will include adapting from a successful but relatively unknown software company to a struggling media company whose Internet properties used by hundreds of millions of people.

In addition, Yahoo announced the departure of President Susan Decker.

"The Board thanks Sue 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," Bostock said in a statement.

Stay tuned to this post for more details as they come from a news conference at 2:30 p.m. PST. We'll be live-blogging the event.… Read more

Updated 10:10 p.m., with additional comments from a source.

While it's not certain that the appointment of Carol Bartz will ensure a Yahoo-Microsoft deal happens, one thing is clear: nothing was going to happen until Yahoo picked its new chief executive.

With reports that Yahoo is going to name the former Autodesk chief to fill Jerry Yang's spot, discussion logically shifts to whether the long-anticipated Microsoft-Yahoo search deal will now come to fruition.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has repeatedly said that he remains interested in a search partnership, but noted in an interview last week that … Read more

Updated 2:09 p.m. PDT to note that Bartz has officially replaced Jerry Yang as CEO.

Carol Bartz, Autodesk's executive chairman and Yahoo's new chief executive, is by most accounts a strong, smart manager familiar with running a large company.

The big question for the successor to outgoing Chief Executive Jerry Yang, though, is how well her experience nurturing growth at a computer-aided design software company will transfer to the job of turning around an embattled media company.

Analysts scrutinizing the situation, though, are more bullish on Bartz than worried about her media chops.

"Bartz (is … Read more

Update at 11:21 a.m. PST with more information on Yahoo's challenges over the past year.

Yahoo has offered the chief executive post to former Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz and she intends to respond to the offer "quickly," said a source familiar with the talks.

Bartz, should she accept the post, would take over the role held by Yahoo's co-founder and embattled CEO Jerry Yang, who came under fire after failed buyout negotiations with Microsoft.

Although Yahoo has not received word that Bartz has accepted the post, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that she will take the position. … Read more

Yahoo is said to be wrapping up its search for a new chief executive, and a decision could come as early as next week, according to a report late Thursday in The Wall Street Journal, citing people close to the search pioneer.

Yahoo's board is reportedly leaning toward a candidate from outside the company, the newspaper reported. Carol Bartz, former chief executive officer of engineering software company Autodesk, is considered a candidate, the Journal reported.

From inside the company, Yahoo President Sue Decker is considered a strong candidate for the position, people familiar with executive search say. Decker has … Read more