Yahoo Said to Have Chosen Autodesk’s Bartz as Chief (Update2)
By Brian Womack
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc., seeking a chief executive officer to chart a new strategy, will name Autodesk Inc. Chairwoman Carol Bartz to the job after a two-month search, a person familiar with the matter said.
Bartz, 60, has accepted the offer to become CEO, said the person, who declined to be identified because the situation is confidential. Jerry Yang, who co-founded Yahoo in 1994, agreed in November to step down as head of the company.
Bartz, CEO of Autodesk from 1992 to 2006, faces the challenge of reviving Yahoo’s growth after the company spurned a $47.5 billion takeover attempt by Microsoft Corp. last year. She also has to learn a new business -- Internet advertising -- a switch from the design software sold by Autodesk. Yahoo ranks second to Google Inc. in Internet searches and online ads.
“She was an inoffensive, but largely unexciting candidate -- someone who would be a steady hand at the wheel -- but investors were hoping for a lot more than that,” said Jeff Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York. “She’s undoubtedly a competent and able executive. The problem is, is she the right fit for the job?”
Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, fell 31 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $11.91 at 1:42 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares lost 48 percent in 2008.
Brad Williams, a spokesman for Yahoo, declined to comment. A call to Bartz’s home wasn’t immediately returned.
Earlier Career
One of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley, Bartz has also served as an executive at Sun Microsystems Inc., Digital Equipment Corp. and 3M Co.
Bartz has previously been considered for high-profile CEO jobs. Before Steve Jobs became the permanent chief at Apple Inc., she was one of the people in the running.
When Bartz stepped down from Autodesk in 2006, she said she was taking time to help her daughter, who was going to college. She remained executive chairwoman, focusing on boosting sales in emerging markets such as India.
“Carol is hands-on as required and can be aggressive as required, but she’s also very supportive of her people,” said Steven West, an Autodesk director and founder of the consulting firm Emerging Company Partners LLC in Incline Village, Nevada. “She has a really balanced leadership style.”
Cancer Battle
At the beginning of her tenure at Autodesk, Bartz fought breast cancer, taking only limited time away from the job. The company said Bartz learned she had cancer on her first day at Autodesk and took a month off to battle it.
Yahoo’s profit has fallen in 10 of the past 11 quarters. The company also faces slowing Internet advertising sales, a market already dominated by Google. Google accounted for almost two- thirds of U.S. search queries in November, giving it more opportunities to sell ads. Yahoo had 20.4 percent, according to research firm ComScore Inc.
Microsoft, which ranks third in U.S. Internet searches, pursued Yahoo last year to help it catch up with Google. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in November that the company was finished with attempts to buy all of Yahoo, though it still may be interested in a search agreement. That remains Microsoft’s position, a person familiar with the matter said last week.
Bartz may consider selling off Yahoo’s Asian operations to refocus the company. Yahoo also has talked to Time Warner Inc. about buying that company’s AOL business. Yahoo tried to broker a search-advertising agreement with Google last year. Google walked away from the partnership after the regulators threatened to block the deal.
Strengths, Weaknesses
“The biggest thing Yahoo needs to do is focus on what they’re good at and outsource what they’re not,” said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis. He recommends buying Yahoo’s shares and doesn’t own them. “She hasn’t done anything on the Internet side or the media side, but she’s not getting the job because of that. She’s getting it because she knows how to right-size and organize a company.”
A three-person board committee, working with executive- search firm Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., had winnowed an initial list of about five candidates down to three, another person familiar with situation said last week. In addition to Bartz, Yahoo President Susan Decker and another unnamed executive were considered, the person said.
The search committee was made up of Yang, Chairman Roy Bostock and former Northwest Airlines Corp. Chairman Gary Wilson.
Former Vodafone Group Plc CEO Arun Sarin was among the people initially contemplated for the post. He withdrew his name from consideration last month.
Bartz is “a good strategist and also a good cheerleader,” said Walter Price, managing director at RCM Capital Management in San Francisco. “She has to get the company to believe in itself again as a force in the Internet.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 13, 2009 14:35 EST |
