Yahoo CEO Bartz: New Management To Make Yahoo “A Lot Faster On Its Feet”

Feb 26, 2009 at 1:42pm ET by Greg Sterling

People have been writing about the forthcoming management changes at Yahoo for a few weeks. Now they’re starting to kick in officially. Yesterday Yahoo Connected Life chief Marco Boerries resigned and today, in something of a surprise, Yahoo CFO Blake Jorgensen also resigned.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz wrote a blog post explaining in general terms what’s going to happen:

So today I’m rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo! a lot faster on its feet. For us working at Yahoo!, it means everything gets simpler. We’ll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer. For you using Yahoo! every day, it will better enable us to deliver products that make you say, “Wow.”

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.

Earlier Jorgensen had said that Yahoo remained open to a search deal with Microsoft provided the company could still have access to query data, which it’s using as part of its new retargeting initiative linking search and display on the Yahoo network (as well as offering other capabilities).

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at a Local Mobile Search, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >

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