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After Firing CEO, Yahoo Puts Itself Up For Sale

Posted by samzenpus on from the make-me-an-offer dept.

Reeses writes "Fare thee well, Yahoo: In addition to firing CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo's board has now put the company up for sale. From the article: 'It was once the world's leading search engine, its founders held talks about a merger with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation – and it even managed to fend off a $44bn takeover bid by Microsoft. But Yahoo has put itself up for sale, after firing its chief executive of 18 months Carol Bartz by phone.'"

4 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Moral of the story.... by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    if the CEO has no personal deep financial stake in the company's success, then they are worthless.

    Require a CEO to buy a large chunk of your company. IT's why the people that built the company are always far more successful at running it than some idiot that got his masters in Business Administration, and has connections.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Moral of the story.... by SlippyToad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Better yet, why not bar all forms of golden parachute compensation. If the CEO is fired, they're FUCKING FIRED, not given a huge handjob on the way out the door.

      Our corporate culture rewards failure rather than success, which is why our economy sucks so badly.

      --
      One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
    2. Re:Moral of the story.... by sootman · · Score: 5, Informative

      > Requiring the CEO to buy a chunk of the company can provide them with a greater
      > financial stake in the company's success, or it can just provide them with the incentive
      > to axe the R&D department, pump out a few quarters that Wall Street loves, and give
      > themselves a giant bonus in the form of "shareholder value" before moving on...
      >
      > If anything, having a CEO without major holdings... might actually help ensure
      > that they take the long view...

      It's not either/or. There are ways to give someone a stake in the company and make it in their best interests to stick around and do good work. From last month's news about Apple's new CEO...

      In connection with Mr. Cook's appointment as Chief Executive Officer, the Board awarded Mr. Cook 1,000,000 restricted stock units. Fifty percent of the restricted stock units are scheduled to vest on each of August 24, 2016 and August 24, 2021, subject to Mr. Cook's continued employment with Apple through each such date.

      At the moment, those one million shares are worth about $400 million. It's entirely possible he'll become a billionaire as Apple's CEO.

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  2. Re:Hmm, I might consider it by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've never had fond memories of using Yahoo: their front page has always been bloated, I preferred Altavista search results back when it existed for real, Yahoo made a mess of Egroups when they bought it and turned it into the loathsome Yahoo Groups of today...

    I say good riddance.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash