Chairman Roy Bostock fired Carol Bartz as CEO of Yahoo yesterday via a phone call. After the firing, she wasted little time revealing its simple details; she sent an email to her employees stating:
“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward”
Yahoo has had a rough couple of years. Their share of ad revenue fell to 11% from more than 16% and other companies, such as Google and Facebook, have increased. Bartz was hired in 2009 with the expectation that she could motivate Yahoo’s comeback. Investors were displeased with Bartz considering Yahoo has continued their downward slope. In June, Investors called for her ousting but Bostock backed the CEO.
The company is said to have done a “strategic review” of ways to move the company forward and the firing was part of the plan. Bartz had one year left on her contract and CFO Tim Morse will be the interim CEO.
The news of the firing sent Yahoo’s stock up 6%. So far, the reason Bartz chose to break news of the firing, especially the part about being fired over the phone, hasn’t been revealed. Usually such detail is saved and not revealed by the fired employee in order to give that person a chance at another position. Nevertheless, Bartz put herself out there and now she has a bigger career crisis management problem as the media is going crazy about the CEO fired over the phone.
The articles read and you should read them also for more information:
"Bartz Fired as Yahoo CEO Amid Plans of Strategic Review" by Douglas Macmillan, Ian King, and Ari Levy of businessweek.com
"Carol Bartz is out as Yahoo CEO" by Jessica Guynn of Los Angeles Times
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