Yahoo chooses Carol Bartz as its new leader

Carol Bartz, former chief executive of software company Autodesk, has been chosen as CEO of Yahoo!

Bartz, who was most recently executive chairman of the board of Autodesk, a CAD software company, where she served as chairman, president and CEO for 14 years until 2006, takes over for Yahoo founder Jerry Yang, who announced he would step down as CEO in November.

Bartz said: "There is no denying that Yahoo! has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees. We will seize that opportunity."

According to Roy Bostock, Yahoo's board chairman, she was the only person offered the job.

Analysts who cover Yahoo for their brokerages took a mostly optimistic view on the move, praising Bartz' past experience and predicting that she will bring discipline to Yahoo's ranks. The most common drawback noted was her lack of experience with consumer-focused Internet businesses.

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