Thanks for nothing
While we won't claim to know the first thing about being on the board of directors of a major tech company, it's hard not to conclude we could have done a better job than the people who run Yahoo.
Late yesterday ATD broke the news that Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz - who was appointed to the role in January 2009 - was no longer CEO, and that the CFO Tim Morse had been named as her interim replacement while they look for a permanent one. This move is highly reminiscent of the manoeuvre AMD pulled at the start of the year.
The suspicion that Bartz had been pushed was confirmed in a Yahoo press release that said "...the board has appointed Timothy Morse interim CEO, effective immediately, replacing Carol Bartz, who has been removed by the board from her role as CEO."
If the language of the press release seemed pretty cold, Bartz' own announcement revealed a chilling lack of goodwill on the part of the Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock. "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," said Bartz in an email sent to all Yahoo employees. Clearly things had become acrimonious at the top of the ailing Internet giant.
While Bartz has failed to add any shareholder value whatsoever in her time in charge, the board must be held in little affection by investors too. Back in 2008, with the global economy collapsing all around them, Yahoo rejected an acquisition offer from Microsoft of $33 per share.
"From the beginning of this process, our independent board and our management have been steadfast in our belief that Microsoft's offer undervalued the company," said Bostock at the time. Since then Yahoo's share price has bounced along at between $12 and $15. Still, yesterday's masterstroke gave Yahoo shareholders a six percent gain, so everything's OK.
