YAHOO chief promises new momentum

Santa Clara (California), June 29, 2009
Mint

Yahoo Inc. chief executive Carol Bartz echoed the turnaround promises of her predecessors as she presided over the first shareholder meeting since her hiring, yet left little doubt the slumping Internet company’s new boss isn’t the same as the old ones.

Like Terry Semel did in 2007 and Jerry Yang again last year, Bartz assured shareholders on Thursday that she will polish Yahoo’s tarnished brand and end a three-year financial funk that has depressed the Sunnyvale-based company’s stock.

But her message resonated with more flair and spunk than the more circumspect styles of Semel and Yang.

And Bartz made it clear she didn’t want to hear any questions about Microsoft Corp., whose convoluted courtship of Yahoo began while Semel was still CEO in 2007 and intensified while company co-founder Yang was in charge last year.