Bartz Fired; Morse Named Interim CEO; Yahoo Board Creates Circle Of Elders To Decide Company Fate
Carol Bartz, the former Yahoo chief executive who was ousted from her position Tuesday, has given her first post-firing interview to Fortune — and it’s a doozy.
Using her characteristically salty language, Bartz described how she felt about being fired from the position she’d held since 2009. In her words, “These people [expletive] me over.”
The printable translation: She was none too happy being dismissed over the phone with a lawyer’s script, then given two hours to decide whether to resign or have the board fire her. That much had been apparent from the quick e-mail she fired off to all Yahoo staff, which heavily implied that she thought she deserved better treatment.
“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,” she wrote.
Answering criticism over her decision to partner with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, Bartz said that Yahoo’s board hadn’t given the deal enough time to pay off, calling the board members “doofuses.”
She’s not alone in her criticism of Yahoo’s board — Dan Loeb, who heads up the hedge fund Third Point, sent a scathing letter to Yahoo’s board of directors demanding “sweeping changes” be made to the company’s leadership.
Third Point disclosed in the letter that it has a 5.1 percent interest in Yahoo and called for the resignation of chairman Roy Bostock, as well as three other members of the board. Loeb, who had no love for Bartz either, said that hiring the CEO was a “serious misjudgment” and that the company must reevaluate its goals as it moves forward.
And what’s going on for Bartz, going forward? She said she plans to remain a Yahoo director, saying that she had “way too many purple clothes” to give up on the company.
At least we know those Yahoo-purple suits go well with Bartz’s blue language.
Law Office of Rahul Dev 