New Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is reportedly planning a significant reorganization of the Internet search-engine and media portal. News of the rumored management shake-up was first reported Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
While details are still being finalized, one leading proposal is for Yahoo’s chief technology officer, Aristotle Balogh, to take on new responsibilities as head of products for the company. Operations for various geographic regions would be consolidated under single executives, and a more top-down, streamlined approach would be implemented for certain business functions which are currently scattered throughout the company.
The Journal also reported that Bartz has launched searches to fill various slots in Yahoo’s management structure and plans to “streamline” the company’s senior vice presidents and vice presidents.
Positive Steps
The rumored moves were praised by Karsten Weide, an industry analyst with the market intelligence firm IDC.
“I think it’s great,” Weide said. “I think so far Ms. Bartz has done everything right. She is focusing on cleaning up the huge overhead that Yahoo has in middle management. There are literally hundreds of VPs still at Yahoo, although some have recently left. The company will save money, and it will make decisions faster.”
Weide also praised Bartz for not immediately outsourcing Yahoo’s search function and for recognizing the importance of Asian assets to the company’s future.
Bartz wasn’t an obvious choice to replace former CEO and Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, who left the position after the collapse of a high-profile ad-sharing agreement with Google. Although she had a successful 14-year stint as CEO of Autodesk, Bartz came to Yahoo without significant experience in either Internet enterprises or new media.
Some analysts predicted it would take months for her to get up to speed on Yahoo’s complicated structure and warned that the company could experience an extended period of drift.
Just What Yahoo Needed?
But Weide thinks…