Since becoming chief executive at Yahoo, Carol Bartz has been keeping a low profile. But it seems she’s been looking around the company, and now she’s had time to study it, she’s started to make some changes. In a blog post, she said she’s undertaken "a whirlwind tour for the last six weeks" and now she’s "rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo! a lot faster on its feet".
Gone is CFO Blake Jorgensen, who’s resigned, along with Marco Boerries, boss of Yahoo Connected Life, most of whose division becomes Yahoo Mobile, while Elisa Steele, from NetApp, will come on board as chief marketing officer.
But there are other changes. Bartz wrote:
“I’ve noticed that a lot of us on the inside don’t spend enough time looking to the outside. That’s why I’m creating a new Customer Advocacy group. After getting a lot of angry calls at my office from frustrated customers, I realized we could do a better job of listening to and supporting you. Our Customer Care team does an incredible job with the amazing number of people who come to them, but they need better resources. So we’re investing in that. After all, you deserve the very best.”
She’s also sent a staff memo, which was leaked to Reuters, that details other changes. One of them is a reward to staff who turn in others leaking memos to the press.