As derogatory as that title sounds, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz was fired from her office after receiving a phone call from Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock. The termination came as much as a surprise to the employees as to Bartz herself. In a note sent via her iPad, we quote:
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
Sent from my iPad
Bartz came to Yahoo! in January of 2009 after turning down software giant Microsoft’s offer to buy the company at $44.6 billion. She then cut costs be trimming down the company’s head count as well as terminating Yahoo!’s other businesses like Zimbra, Geocities and Delicious. She’s also the cause for Yahoo!’s partnership with Microsoft which was seen as searches with the tagline “powered by Bing” attached — though the company still has to see the financial effect of that deal as their revenue is still down 5% as of their recent earnings announcement. In response to this termination, Yahoo! CFO Tim Morse was elected as interim CEO while the board is still looking for a suitable leader.
Apparently, investors liked this move as Yahoo!’s stocks rose by 6% to close at $13.32 per share. As addendum, this gain was more than what the company produced since Bartz took over as CEO.
