Just six weeks after taking over as chief executive of Yahoo! (YHOO) from co-founder Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz has now made it quite clear who's in charge and what demands she'll place on her executive team. On Feb. 26, Bartz announced an overhaul of the embattled company's management. The new, streamlined structure is intended to make the company "a lot faster on its feet," Bartz wrote in a post on Yahoo's official blog.
In one of the biggest changes, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, who joined Yahoo in June 2007, will leave in the next few months after a new CFO is chosen. Jorgensen was a close ally of former Yahoo President Sue Decker, who left in January after being passed over for the top job. Jorgensen's departure follows those of mobile chief Marco Boerries earlier this week and news head Neeraj Khemlani, who's leaving for Hearst as vice-president and special assistant to the CEO for digital media.
The changes, though largely expected after recent reports in the blog BoomTown, are no less momentous for a company that for years has been hobbled by slow decision-making and ineffective execution on those decisions. As far back as 2006, one executive who has since left, Brad Garlinghouse, penned a now-famous "Peanut Butter Manifesto" that outlined those management problems. The new management organization has all major executives reporting directly to Bartz, who lamented in her blog post that there's "plenty that has bogged this company down." "It looks like she isn't afraid to go in with a chain saw," says Kevin Lee, CEO of search marketing firm Didit.
Divestitures of Businesses Expected
In the most important leadership picks, current Chief Technology Officer Aristotle "Ari" Balogh will be head of all products and Hilary Schneider, current chief of ad, publishing, and audience groups in the U.S., will head North American operations. A new chief of international operations, to be chosen soon, will oversee what had been three separate global regions.
Although Bartz has kept her specific plans for Yahoo close to the vest, her revamped organization may pave the way for underperforming operations to be jettisoned more quickly. "We expect more significant restructurings and divestitures of various businesses will occur in the future as the simpler org chart leads to more of a focus on the company's core businesses," UBS Securities (UBS) analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a report after the announcement.
The more centralized management structure doesn't guarantee Yahoo will find its footing. Indeed, some observers fret that centralizing too much can hobble innovation. "We tend not to like that much concentration in product development," says Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay, who would prefer a structure that focuses on key strategic products such as search ads.
Just six weeks after taking over as chief executive of Yahoo! (YHOO) from co-founder Jerry Yang, Carol Bartz has now made it quite clear who's in charge and what demands she'll place on her executive team. On Feb. 26, Bartz announced an overhaul of the embattled company's management. The new, streamlined structure is intended to make the company "a lot faster on its feet," Bartz wrote in a post on Yahoo's official blog.
In one of the biggest changes, Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, who joined Yahoo in June 2007, will leave in the next few months after a new CFO is chosen. Jorgensen was a close ally of former Yahoo President Sue Decker, who left in January after being passed over for the top job. Jorgensen's departure follows those of mobile chief Marco Boerries earlier this week and news head Neeraj Khemlani, who's leaving for Hearst as vice-president and special assistant to the CEO for digital media.
The changes, though largely expected after recent reports in the blog BoomTown, are no less momentous for a company that for years has been hobbled by slow decision-making and ineffective execution on those decisions. As far back as 2006, one executive who has since left, Brad Garlinghouse, penned a now-famous "Peanut Butter Manifesto" that outlined those management problems. The new management organization has all major executives reporting directly to Bartz, who lamented in her blog post that there's "plenty that has bogged this company down." "It looks like she isn't afraid to go in with a chain saw," says Kevin Lee, CEO of search marketing firm Didit.
Divestitures of Businesses Expected
In the most important leadership picks, current Chief Technology Officer Aristotle "Ari" Balogh will be head of all products and Hilary Schneider, current chief of ad, publishing, and audience groups in the U.S., will head North American operations. A new chief of international operations, to be chosen soon, will oversee what had been three separate global regions.
Although Bartz has kept her specific plans for Yahoo close to the vest, her revamped organization may pave the way for underperforming operations to be jettisoned more quickly. "We expect more significant restructurings and divestitures of various businesses will occur in the future as the simpler org chart leads to more of a focus on the company's core businesses," UBS Securities (UBS) analyst Ben Schachter wrote in a report after the announcement.
The more centralized management structure doesn't guarantee Yahoo will find its footing. Indeed, some observers fret that centralizing too much can hobble innovation. "We tend not to like that much concentration in product development," says Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay, who would prefer a structure that focuses on key strategic products such as search ads.
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