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Tag: Carol Bartz

  • Yahoo’s Brand Not Damaged, According to Report

    “Yahoo is not a damaged brand in the eyes of the public,” a spokesperson for YouGov BrandIndex tells WebProNews, pointing to some new research from the firm.

    As you may know, Yahoo just fired CEO Carol Bartz. She had some choice words for the Board.

    “For all the financial woes that forced CEO Carol Bartz to be fired on Tuesday, Yahoo still ranks high in the eyes of consumers, the spokesperson adds. “While the media focuses on Yahoo’s behind the scenes issues — dropping ad revenues, its Asian holdings, the flailing Microsoft search engine partnership — the public’s perception is clearly not fazed.”

    

”According to YouGov BrandIndex’s Index score tracking — the company’s main brand health indicator averaging measurements such as consumer perception of quality, value, impression, reputation, satisfaction and willingness to recommend — Yahoo has not only remained steady all year, but they are well ahead of Microsoft’s heavily-marketed Bing,” he explains. “While Yahoo’s Index score has been in the 40-41 range, Bing has been hovering around 8.8 to 11.”

    

By comparison, Google is well ahead in the perception race, clocking in in the upper 50’s score range,” he adds.

    It will be quite interesting to see how brand perception continues into the future under the company’s new leadership. Currently, CFO Tim Morse is filling in while the company looks for a new permanent CEO.

  • Bartz Calls Yahoo Board Names

    Bartz Calls Yahoo Board Names

    Suffice it to say, Carol Bartz is a little bitter about how things went down at Yahoo.

    You’ve probably already seen the now famous email that Bartz sent to Yahoo employees from her iPad, which read, “I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.”

    Pattie Sellers has now published an exclusive interview with Bartz in which she had plenty of choice words about it all. Here are a few memorable quotes from the piece:

    “These people fucked me over.” – in reference to Yahoo’s board.

    “‘Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?’” – in reference to chairman Roy Bostock’s phone call to her, which Bartz said she though was a “script.”

    “I thought you were classier.” – also in reference to Bostock’s call.

    “Now they’re trying to show that they’re not the doofuses that they are.” – in reference to Yahoo’s board.

    Interestingly, a Yahoo stakeholder is calling for Bostock and other Yahoo board members to step-down, according to a report from Nicholas Carlson.

    CFO Timothy Morse has assumed the role of interim CEO as the company’s new Executive Leadership Council searches for a new permanent CEO.

    Bartz’s approval rating among Yahoo employees was only 33%, according to data from GlassDoor.

  • Carol Bartz Fired From Yahoo

    Carol Bartz is out as CEO of Yahoo. Her leadership has been sharply criticized for quite some time, and now Yahoo’s board has thrown her out.

    The company put out a press release called “Yahoo! Announced Leadership Reorganization” in which it discloses that it has appointed Timothy Morse Interim CEO.

    Yahoo also announced the formation of its Executive Leadership Council, which is designed to support Morse and manage Yahoo’s day-to-day operations until a permanent CEO is found.

    “The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company’s leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities,” said Roy Bostock, Chairman of Yahoo’s Board. “We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders.”

    “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Carol for her service to Yahoo! during a critical time of transition in the Company’s history, and against a very challenging macro-economic backdrop,” Bostock said. “I would also like to express the Board’s appreciation to Tim and thank him for accepting this important role. We have great confidence in his abilities and in those of the other executives who have been named to the Executive Leadership Council.”

    Kara Swisher shared a leaked internal memo from Bartz:

    Subject: Goodbye
    To all,
    I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward.
    Carol

    There sure have been a lot of big changes at major tech companies lately. Before this of course, Apple named Tim Cook CEO as Steve Jobs stepped down and earlier this year, Google changed CEOs from Eric Schmidt to Larry Page.

    According to GlassDoor, Bartz had a 33% approval rating among Yahoo employees. That compares to 97% for Steve Jobs among Apple employees.

    Carol Bartz Approval Rating

  • Yahoo Beats Q4 Estimates, But Held Back By Forecast

    The fourth quarter of 2010 could have gone much worse for Yahoo, judging from the earnings report the company released this afternoon.  Yahoo’s numbers were generally higher than what analysts expected, perhaps earning Carol Bartz a few points in unhappy shareholders’ eyes.  A low Q1 forecast threw a long shadow, however.

    To first cover the fourth quarter: experts believed Yahoo would report $1.50 billion in gross revenue and $1.19 billion in net revenue.  Instead, the company managed to report $1.53 billion and $1.21 billion, respectively.  And Yahoo reported $0.24 in terms of earnings per share, as well, rather than the $0.22 that was expected.

    Bartz stated as a result, "We just completed a very encouraging quarter and year for Yahoo!, where we saw our plans to turn around the company gain momentum.  For the year, operating income, margins, EPS, and return on invested capital doubled.  Display advertising grew 17%.  We completed the important North America Search transition to Microsoft on schedule and with high quality.  We introduced new and updated products at a faster pace.  And our content properties – like Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Finance – continued to innovate and extend their massive lead."

    YahooUnfortunately, 2011 isn’t looking so bright at the moment.  Yahoo thinks it’ll earn between $1.02 billion and $1.08 billion in revenue during the first quarter, while analysts would prefer to see $1.13 billion.  Also, the company’s cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities fell by almost 20 percent between December 31st of 2009 and December 31st of 2010.

    This has caused some shareholders to back away from Yahoo’s stock.  It’s down 2.12 percent in after-hours trading right now, following a loss of 0.44 percent during the normal trading day.

  • Yahoo Introduces Its Contibutor Network

    Yahoo Introduces Its Contibutor Network

    Yahoo has launched the Yahoo Contributor Network, a new platform for people to publish their creative content.

    Yahoo says its Contributor Network will bring contributions from more than 400,000 writers, photographers and videographers to media destinations, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports and the Yahoo homepage.

    "The launch of the Yahoo Contributor Network is a great example of how Yahoo! is executing against its content strategy,” said Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo.

     

    Yahoo-Contributor-Network

     

    “In less than six months since the acquisition of Associated Content, we’ve completely retooled the platform in order to bring the people’s voice to Yahoo."

    The new platform is open to all Yahoo users to share their perspectives, and lets Yahoo editors assign and select crowdsourced contributions for all of the company’s media properties.

    The Yahoo Contributor Network sets performance payment guidelines for content featured on Yahoo sites, and has dashboard that displays how each contributor’s content performs.

    "Associated Content has been known for maintaining the industry’s largest contributor base, and with the launch of the Yahoo Contributor Network, we’ve added scale and reach that sets us apart from any other crowdsourced media platform,” said Luke Beatty, vice president and general manager, Yahoo.

     

  • Yahoo Delivers Passable Earnings Report

    The third quarter was not unkind to Yahoo, judging from a just-released earnings report.  Yahoo managed to meet or beat analysts’ forecasts in most respects, and its stock is now heading up in after-hours trading as a result.

    To hit the highest notes first: Yahoo reported earnings per share of $0.29, which is great compared to the $0.13 it reported in the third quarter of 2009 and compared to predictions of $0.15.  (This was possible because the sale of HotJobs contributed $0.13 to the Q3 2010 total.)

    Also, Yahoo reported $189 million in operating income, even though analysts only expected to see $178 million.

    Carol BartzThere were just a couple small problems when it came to net revenue and guidance.  That’s because Yahoo reported $1.12 billion (versus $1.13 billion) this quarter, and thinks it’ll report between $1.125 billion and $1.225 billion (versus $1.26 billion) next quarter.

    Still, Carol Bartz was able to state, "We delivered a solid quarter with good display advertising revenue growth, big gains in operating income, and margins that were double what they were last year.  Because we recognize the tremendous value of our assets, we also dramatically stepped up our stock repurchases.  We’ve now bought back more than 7% of the company’s stock this year alone."

    And since that returns us to the subject of the stock market, we’ll note that Yahoo’s stock is up 1.29 percent at the moment.

  • Carol Bartz Makes List Of Overpaid CEOs

    Carol Bartz Makes List Of Overpaid CEOs

    Since Carol Bartz became Yahoo’s CEO in mid-January of last year, the company’s performance has been less than stellar.  Bartz has still raked in plenty of cash and stock options, though, earning her a place on a list of overpaid CEOs.

    Glass-Lewis, a governance analysis and proxy voting firm, put together the list, and in fairness to Bartz and Yahoo, it’s not like their names were the only ones on it.  Glass-Lewis observed in a statement, "Our research shows that there remains an abundance of bad apples that continue to accept significant financial risk in order to attract and retain executives."

    Also, a quick check of the performance of Yahoo’s stock shows that Bartz hasn’t killed the company; the stock’s actually risen almost ten percent in the time she’s been in charge.

    The trouble is that most other stocks have done much better, as you can see below.

    So Colin Barr was able to write, "Bartz sports the biggest paycheck on the list of 25 overindulged big companies compiled by proxy adviser Glass-Lewis. . . .  She took home $39 million last year, including a $10 million make-whole payment for options relinquished when she left Autodesk, her previous employer."

    It should be interesting to see if Yahoo’s third quarter earnings report (which will be delivered on October 19th) makes Bartz’s compensation package seem more or less reasonable.

  • Bartz Labels Facebook Potential Biggest Competitor

    When it comes to competitors, Yahoo’s Carol Bartz may not have the usual suspect(s) – Google and perhaps Microsoft – at the front of her mind.  The CEO recently indicated in an interview that Facebook occupies her thoughts, instead.

    Bartz started by admitting to David Lieberman that Yahoo hasn’t achieved a lot of success in the field of social media.  In reference to Facebook, she said, "Did we miss the boat on exactly how they do it?  Of course we did.  Everybody did."

    Carol BartzThen, responding to a question about the identity of Yahoo’s single biggest competitor, the CEO suggested, "Facebook – not today, but they could be.  If they keep going, they will have the vault of information on everybody in the world, and that’s valuable."

    Which is true, of course, and Bartz may get points for recognizing that fact.  Plus, many people are effectively pitting Google and Facebook against each other, so it makes sense for Yahoo to assume a similar position.

    The one slight complication is the fact that Eric Schmidt and Steve Ballmer left Facebook out of the equation last month, agreeing that Bing is Google’s chief competitor.

    Anyway, in a financial sense, Yahoo appears to be doing well compared to just about every potential rival today, with its stock up 1.69 percent so far.  Google and Microsoft are up just 0.81 percent and 0.05 percent, respectively, and of course Facebook isn’t supposed to go public for quite a while.

  • Carol Bartz Predicts iAds Failure

    Carol Bartz Predicts iAds Failure

    Apple’s official stance on its iAd platform is that it "gives brands what they’ve been waiting for: access to the global audience of iPhone and iPod touch users, enhanced targeting, premium creative and robust measurement."  But yesterday, Carol Bartz indicated that the platform’s more or less doomed.

    Without mincing words, Yahoo’s CEO predicted during an interview with Reuters, "That’s going to fall apart for them."

    The Reuters article summing up Bartz’s comments then explained, "She suggested that advertisers will balk on Apple’s efforts to exert full Jobsean control over the ads."

    Carol BartzThose opinions are sure to cause some interesting debates between Apple fans and Yahoo supporters (and/or Steve Jobs critics).  Bartz might have a point about Apple’s tendency to implement overly strict rules, after all, yet Yahoo’s recent track record doesn’t give her absolute authority on advertising-related matters.

    Two more interesting facts before we wrap things up and let everyone start arguing in the comments section: first, Bartz admitted during the interview with Reuters that iAds are "okay for experimentation."

    Second, Apple’s stock is up 0.01 percent at this time, while Yahoo’s stock has already fallen 1.29 percent this morning.

  • Yahoo Prepares For $3 Billion Stock Buyback

    Yesterday, Yahoo’s stock hit a new 52-week low, touching $13.79 before closing at $13.84.  Things are looking rather brighter this morning, though, as the stock is up to $14.09 following a declaration that Yahoo may buy back $3 billion in common stock.

    YahooThis announcement, which came via an SEC filing, provides an interesting window into the thought process at Yahoo.  Obviously, $3 billion is quite a lot of money, and could be used to hire all sorts of engineers, marketing hotshots, and content creators.  Or it could just be used to acquire a company or ten.

    Yet Carol Bartz and Yahoo’s board of directors apparently agreed that a stock repurchase program was a better idea.  (And stock repurchase programs do tend to be popular with investors.)

    Which leads us to one other thing that came to light in the SEC filing: how many votes the members of Yahoo’s board did (and didn’t) receive in the most recent election.  Carol Bartz survived and then some, with a votes for-votes against tally of about 1 billion to 6 million.

    Roy Bostock and Arthur Kern are then the least popular board members, receiving around 80 million "votes against" each.

    Anyway, to return to the subject of the stock buyback, we should note that it isn’t supposed to happen overnight, and it’s quite possible that something less than $3 billion will be involved.  Yahoo said in the SEC filing, "Yahoo! is authorized to repurchase up to $3 billion of its outstanding shares of common stock from time to time over the next three years."

  • Carol Bartz Announces October Search Update

    Even as its deal with Microsoft continues to draw towards a conclusion, Yahoo is apparently working on some significant upgrades in terms of search.  Indeed, Carol Bartz was quite adamant during her presentation at Yahoo Investor Day 2010 that her company will remain a contender in this field.

    Carol BartzAt one point, Bartz encouraged members of the media, "Please do not print that we are out of the search business!  We are in the search business!"

    To drive the point home, Bartz also promised a search update in October, and dropped a little bit of a hint concerning what will change.  According to Nicholas Carlson, she said, "Lately, while search has gotten so pretty . . . video, slideshows, images . . .we kind of got behind on that part.  You’re going to see a lot more pretty search from us."

    And whether or not that’s specific enough for you, investors seem to have been impressed by these promises.  Yahoo’s stock is up 2.22 percent at the moment, while Google’s up just 0.95 percent, the Nasdaq’s up only 0.48 percent, and Microsoft’s actually down 2.99 percent.

    Stay tuned, and we’ll see what sort of update Yahoo unveils in October, then.

  • Yahoo Arranges Investor Day Event

    Yahoo Arranges Investor Day Event

    Yahoo shareholders (and perhaps Microsoft and Google shareholders, too, for that matter) might want to consider clearing their calendar for a special event.  Yahoo’s announced that it will hold an Investor Day/Analyst Day meeting on Wednesday, May 26th.

    YahooThe meeting should last from around 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM California time, and a live view of the proceedings will be available here.  Lots of important Yahoos should be on hand and take turns talking, including Carol Bartz, Tim Morse, and Hilary Schneider.

    If you’d like to know what specific subjects they’ll be discussing, Yahoo’s stated they’ll speak about the company’s "strategy, business priorities and progress."

    Obviously, these are both important and controversial topics, and no matter how much time Yahoo’s spent massaging the guest list (an invitation’s necessary in order to attend the event in person), Yahoo’s execs are sure to face some tough questions.

    We’ll try to relay the most interesting responses in the event you can’t or don’t want to set aside a whole day to hear their answers for yourself.  In the meantime, here are a few relevant (and unfortunate) pieces of information: Google’s stock declined 3.93 percent today, Microsoft’s stock fell 4.00 percent, and Yahoo’s did worst of all, dropping 4.39 percent.

  • Yahoo Acquires Associated Content

    The extended Yahoo family just got a whole lot bigger.  Yahoo announced this afternoon that it’s acquired Associated Content, and Associated Content, which specializes in crowdsourced content, is in contact with around 380,000 contributors.

    Carol BartzIf you’re wondering how this purchase has anything to do with Yahoo’s core businesses – and/or whether it represents a wise decision – Carol Bartz is eager to voice her opinion.  In a statement, she addressed the second issue by saying, "Combining our world-class editorial team with Associated Content’s makes this a game-changer."

    Bartz also explained, "Together, we’ll create more content around what we know our users care about, and open up new and creative avenues for advertisers to engage with consumers across our network.  These are important aspects of building engaging consumer experiences on Yahoo!, and one of the reasons why we’re one of the most visited destinations online."

    Unfortunately, Yahoo’s CEO was less forthcoming when it came to the financial terms of the deal, but numerous whispers put Associated Content’s price in the neighborhood of $100 million.

    Anyway, this development looks to be a big deal for Yahoo.  Considering that Carol Bartz has been much more inclined to sell properties than buy them, the acquisition of Associated Content and her enthusiasm concerning the purchase would seem to signal that we’ll be hearing a lot more about it in the future.

  • Yahoo CEO: “Google Is Going To Have A Problem”

    It’s no secret that Google has, on a very steady basis, dominated its competition and managed to return big profits.  And Carol Bartz may be in no position to question the company’s methods.  But Yahoo’s CEO nonetheless chose to point out a potential weakness this week, and she may be on the right track.

    Does Carol Bartz have enough credibility to criticize Google?  Tell us what you think.

    Carol BartzBartz told Jonathan Fildes, "Google is going to have a problem because Google is only known for search.  It is only half our business; it’s 99.9% of their business.  They’ve got to find other things to do."

    Also, in terms of how Google will be judged as it attempts to find those other things, Bartz observed, "Google has to grow a company the size of Yahoo every year to be interesting."

    The 99.9 percent figure is obviously an exaggeration.  Still, if you figure that Google has a market cap of around $169 billion and Yahoo’s market cap is closer to $24 billion, the second remark doesn’t seem too inaccurate.

    So as Bartz indicated, that puts a lot of pressure on Google to succeed at something other than search.  Whether that something’s Android, Google Apps, the TV Ads program, or a different product doesn’t matter, but in this light, Yahoo’s rather scattered network of properties starts to look a little more attractive.

    UPDATE: A regulatory filing has revealed that Carol Bartz received $47.2 million in compensation for her work in 2009, which is far more than either Eric Schmidt or Steve Ballmer collected.

    What do you make of Carol Bartz’s remarks — and her compensation package?  Let us know in the comments section.

  • Carol Bartz’s Compensation Package Tops $47.2 Million

    Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may have a tough job, but this morning, it’s a rare person who’s arguing that she isn’t well paid for it.  A regulatory filing has revealed that Bartz received $47.2 million in compensation for 2009.

    A number of different figures contributed to that final sum.  As you can see below, Bartz collected around $1 million by way of a base salary, $1.5 million in nonequity incentives, and then a whopping $42.1 million in terms of stock and options awards.  Along with $2.6 million in "other compensation."

    Steve Ballmer, by comparison, took just $1.27 million in compensation for the fiscal year of 2009, while Eric Schmidt collected even less: $245,322.

    This state of affairs has left Bartz with some fairly vocal critics.  Check any financial forum today, and you’ll likely see a lot of folks complaining about the performance of Yahoo’s stock.  Other individuals have also speculated about how many dismissed employees $47.2 million could have kept on the payroll.

    Yahoo’s stock is up this morning, at least (by 0.18 percent compared to the Nasdaq’s 0.01 percent gain), which may be a small comfort to investors.

    UPDATE: A Yahoo spokesperson wrote WebProNews to say with respect to Bartz’s compensation package, "While it was valued at $47 million, there was more than $42 million that was not actually realized in the year and it is not the amount she will realize. SEC rules require reporting the fair market value of stock grants and this method of calculating compensation reflects all the potential value of the long-term incentives Carol received when she was hired. Vesting of the large majority of options depends on whether the average closing prices for Yahoo! stock exceeds certain levels that range from 150 to 300 percent ($17.60 to $35.19) of the exercise price of the options for twenty consecutive trading days prior to January 1, 2013. Carol cannot sell any shares acquired by exercising this option until January 1, 2013."

  • Yahoo Reports Impressive First-Quarter Profits

    Yahoo’s first-quarter earnings report is out, and it looks like the company got off to a decent start this year.  Most of Yahoo’s key financial stats either measured up to or exceeded analysts’ estimates, and the company’s stock hasn’t plummeted in after-hours trading.

    YahooTo be clear: Yahoo reported $1.13 billion in revenue, while analysts thought it would bring in more like $1.17 billion.  And Yahoo’s stock is down 2.50 percent at the moment.

    It’s important to remember, though, that Google’s stock pretty much plunged after it beat most forecasts last week (down 4.51 percent at around 5:25 PM), so in that sense, Yahoo’s in good shape.

    Also, Yahoo reported net income of $310 million – which is quite a lot compared to the consensus estimate of $118 million – along with earnings per share of $0.22 versus the consensus estimate of $0.09.

    It might not be unreasonable, then, that Carol Bartz said in a statement, "We had a good quarter . . . .  Thanks to our efforts, our search share has stabilized, and we grew display advertising by 20% year over year.  More importantly, guaranteed display grew by 24% as advertisers took advantage of the science, art and scale that only Yahoo! can offer."

    Yahoo expects that the second quarter could turn out even better, too, projecting an increase in revenue.

  • Yahoo’s Bartz Keen On Making Acquisitions

    Believe it or not, Yahoo has a market cap of about $22 billion, and the company intends to put some of that money to good use in the near future.  Carol Bartz stated at the Transformation 2010 conference that she intends to acquire more stuff this year.

    Carol BartzIn response to what could have been a "yes" or "no" question concerning acquisitions in 2010, Bartz answered "absolutely," pretty much guaranteeing that at least one purchase will take place.  Bartz then explained to Abbey Klaassen, "This year it’s about what technologies: Do we need to fill in the blanks, what analytics, what tools?"

    Bartz also said, "Well just imagine whether it’s acquiring an audience – a group of female bloggers, or whether it’s acquiring some better analytics tools that help us guide campaigns with our partners, or whether it’s technology.  Last year we bought at company called Zoobut, which is better photo technology, so it let us do very modern photos in our mail.  It’s that sort of thing – audience, technology and tools."

    The next few months should be interesting time for Yahoo, given that Microsoft will soon begin to exert a huge influence over the search side of its operations.  Whatever purchases Bartz is considering could provide a good clue about what area(s) Yahoo will focus on moving forward.

    One last note: For the record, Yahoo’s stock is moving up in early morning trading, perhaps giving the company a bigger shopping budget.

  • Yahoo Halts Search For International Boss

    Most estimates agree that there are almost 7 billion human beings on this planet, and even the biggest misanthropes must admit that a few of them are smart and capable.  Yahoo apparently wasn’t able to encounter any keepers, however, as it’s stopped searching for someone to lead the company’s international division.

    Carol BartzThis position opened up in February of 2009 as Carol Bartz really began to reshape operations at Yahoo.  Now, as reported by John Letzing, Bartz said during yesterday’s earnings call, "I didn’t find anyone who was up to our needs."

    Some critics might take this as an admission of defeat; it seems a bit ridiculous that a year-long hunt didn’t turn up anything.  Or perhaps even scary, if Yahoo located some qualified candidates, but said candidates didn’t want to work for the company.

    Still, the timing of Bartz’s announcement goes a long ways towards making things look better.  Yahoo’s Q4 report was pretty good, after all – its stock rose in after-hours trading and is still headed up this morning – so this position appears to be less than critical.

    When everything’s said and done, the new plan is for three Yahoo executives (Hilary Schneider, Rose Tsou, and Rich Riley) representing the Americas, Asia, and EMEA to report directly to Bartz.

    Related Articles:

    > Yahoo’s Q4 Financial Results Draw Smiles

    > Canada Gets Its New Yahoo Homepage

    > Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Approval Gets Deadline In Europe

  • Yahoo’s Q4 Financial Results Draw Smiles

    Yahoo’s fourth quarter earnings report has been released, and it seems that people who were preparing for some sort of drastic response – whether it would’ve involved either pitchforks or confetti – will have to wait for another day.  Although the confetti folks might win out, as Yahoo did all right, more or less in line with estimates.

    Carol BartzYahoo reported $1.26 billion in net revenue and earnings of 11 cents per share, versus predictions of $1.23 billion and 11 cents per share.  That’s a pretty solid performance, all in all.

    What’s more, the outlook for the next quarter is bright, too, with Carol Bartz stating, "Our business has positive momentum and we feel good as we head into 2010.  We’re pleased that the midpoint of our Q1 revenue outlook marks the first quarter of year-over-year growth in six quarters."

    And in case you were wondering, Yahoo still plans on sealing its deal with Microsoft sometime early this year.

    Then here’s one final sign that Yahoo satisfied everyone on the financial front today: its stock is up.  Yahoo shares have risen 1.88 percent so far in after-hours trading.

    Related Articles:

    > Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Approval Gets Deadline In Europe

    > Yahoo Upgrades Yahoo Finance Search

    > Yahoo Adds Ernst & Young Veteran To Board

  • Yahoo Possibly Interested In Yelp

    Yahoo Possibly Interested In Yelp

    Fair warning: this is not a report upon which you should rearrange your stock portfolio.  Please don’t even bet anyone a significant amount of money.  Just the same, Carol Bartz appears to have given a hint that she’s interested in acquiring Yelp.

    Carol BartzBrian Womack recently interviewed Bartz, and at one point, asked her about buying the site known for its fast-growing collection of local reviews.  Bartz, who is in turn known for speaking plainly, didn’t give a "yes" or "no" (or "heck yes" or "heck no") answer.

    Instead, Yahoo’s CEO said, "Local is extremely important.  People do some outrageous percentage of their commercial spending five miles from their home."  Which kind of sounds like "that’s a good idea."

    Of course, even if Bartz had answered in the affirmative, the odds don’t favor anything happening.  Late last year, the rumor mill indicated that Google trying to acquire Yelp, and if Google’s popularity and deeper pockets couldn’t secure a deal, it’s hard to imagine Yahoo succeeding.

    So again, this isn’t a concrete, "Yahoo will acquire Yelp" announcement so much as an exercise in parsing CEO’s sentences.  Hat tip goes to Jay Yarow.

    Related Articles:

    > Yahoo Upgrades Yahoo Finance Search

    > Yahoo Adds Ernst & Young Veteran To Board

    > Yahoo Sponsored Search Getting New Features

  • Carol Bartz Gives Self A B-

    Carol Bartz Gives Self A B-

    Carol Bartz is five days away from her one-year anniversary as Yahoo’s CEO, and in that time, she feels she’s done a fairly decent job of leading the company.  In a recent interview, Bartz graded her performance as B- material.

    Bartz indicated to Brian Womack that speed (or actually, a lack thereof) might have been her biggest problem.  She said "she could have moved faster to reorganize the company and strike a Web-search agreement with Microsoft," Womack reported.

    Bartz also stated, "It was a little tougher internally than I think I had anticipated.  I did move fast, but this is a big job."

    Feel free to use the comments section to say what grade you think Bartz deserves.  A point in her favor: during the past year, the value of Yahoo’s stock has risen by 36.66 percent.

    A couple of points against: in the same stretch, the Nasdaq’s gone up 49.46 percent, and Microsoft’s proposed acquisition would have been significantly more profitable for shareholders.

    Anyway, with regards to the future, Womack wrote, "Bartz said she plans to do more acquisitions this year, probably of less than $1 billion apiece.  Potential targets include overseas companies and data-analytics businesses that help advertisers assess their results."

    Related Articles:

    > Kaufman Bros. Analyst Upgrades Yahoo

    > Carol Bartz Delivers Pep Talk

    > Yahoo Time Spent Stats Up After Ad Campaign