Yahoo! names new CEO
- Added:
- Jan 14, 2009
Yahoo has named Autodesk chairman Carol Bartz as its CEO, replacing Jerry Yang who departed the embattled online media firm at the end of last year.
The company also said that President Sue Decker, who was one of the candidates to succeed Jerry Yang as CEO, will resign after a transitional period.
The appointment ends almost two months' speculation on who would get the top job at Yahoo to help the company recover from huge losses in value.
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.
Yang stepped down as CEO in November 2008 to take a back seat role on the board in the face of shareholder criticism for rejecting a Microsoft buyout offer.
Yahoo has suffered a $30m loss in value since Yang rejected the offer at $33 a share, or $47.5bn, in February 2008.
The announcement of the appointment did not immediately boost share prices, indicating that investors may be waiting to hear what Bartz plans to do to revive the business.