Sanfrancisco, January, 14: Yahoo Inc. new CEO Carol Bartz is known as straight forward and a technological expert but it seems that she is inexperienced in deal making and web business.
Carol Bartz, 60, was chief executive officer at a software company named Autodesk Inc from 1992 to 2006 that is for 14 years. Autodesk's revenue had increased from $285 million to $1.5 billion during her tenure. She established the company by buying small scale businesses which also includes takeover of Discreet Logic in 1999.
However, Bartz is not very experienced in deal making and web businesses and hence Yahoo investors are doubtful over her appointment as shares of this internet search and advertising company are falling more than 3 percent during trading day.
Richard Davis, analyst at Needham & Co said, "She seems to me to be more of a builder than a buyer-and-flipper. I'm sure that plenty of people wanted to buy Autodesk over the years.”
“People respect her. She is direct and focused, but not mean-spirited like a 'Chainsaw Al' type of person," he said further.
According to the analysts, she is talented and loyal executive but it will be a great challenge for her to turn around Yahoo because she doesn’t have experience in Internet business. Yahoo Inc is second in search advertising business after Google.
On the contrary, some analysts also conclude that Bartz’s appointment itself shows that the company wants a CEO who will prefer growth of the company rather than sale. Neil Sims, a managing director at executive search firm Boyden's technology practice group, said, "The selection of Bartz is a declarative statement for Yahoo that 'we are not for sale'. She doesn't have the M&A dealmaker profile you'd expect Yahoo to select if (selling) was their overt intention."
During her first conference call as Yahoo CEO, she herself took the challenge and said she was confident about turnaround of the company and hence accepted the offer.
"I just see this company as a company with enormous assets that frankly could use a little management, and I love leading, love managing, love making decisions," she said further.
But Carol Bartz is not agreeing with the people’s view that it would be tough appointment for her as she is a technology person. She said, "I didn't know CAD (computer-aided design) when I joined Autodesk, I didn't know hardware when I joined Sun. I am a technology person, I am a market-driven person, and I love customers. So I suspect I have a little brainpower to learn what it takes to understand media."
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