Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Yahoo's new broom

• Maggie Shiels
• 27 Feb 09, 09:10 GMT

Carol Bartz, the new CEO at , clearly doesn't believe in letting the grass grow under her feet. Six weeks into the job, and she has taken the axe to some of the top execs at the internet portal in order to turn the business around.

For most of this week speculation has been rife about an announcement that would result in a major shake up at the top end of the company. Well that has now come to pass.

Being given the order of the boot, or I should say, resigning is chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen, who just a few weeks ago sat by Ms Bartz's side during the company's earning's announcement. And just yesterday he was shilling for Yahoo at the Technology conference in San Francisco and talking about the door still being open to a search deal with Microsoft.

I was intrigued to learn that he was getting paid a salary of $500,000 (Β£352,000) according to the company's most recent disclosures about exec compensation.

Also leaving is Yahoo's mobile lead Marco Boerries who has family back in Germany.

Neeraj Khemlani, who ran the news and information division is jumping ship to . That's the same company that owns the which faces the prospect of being shut down because of financial losses of $50m (Β£35m).

Ms Bartz has also done a bit of streamlining at the top and slimmed down the confusing hierarchy. I for one have always been lost on who does what because there seemed to be so many execs and a myriad of management layers that all appeared very similar.

A few top names are being given a big bump up under the new regime. Chief technology officer Ari Balogh, whom I have met a few times and strikes me as a very cool guy with an easy manner, has been made head of all products.

Hilary Schneider who runs the advertising side of things, and who seems to me to be one very capable lady, is now head of North America. An international head is still to be appointed.

And in terms of getting the word out on the street, especially Wall Street I suspect, there is a new marketing head in the shape of Elisa Steele who comes from , where Ms Bartz is also a board member.

The boss of HR is a guy called David Windley who previously worked in HR for Microsoft. Mmmm? Sorry, I am just being mischievous because so many people who work and have worked at Yahoo have also worked at Microsoft and vice versa.

There is to be a new head of customer advocacy to "help us better hear the voice of the customer" said the new CEO.

It seems Ms Bartz has embraced the role of chief blogger with her blog entitled "." In her post, she wrote "People here have impressed the hell out of me. There's so much great energy and frankly lots of optimism. But there's also plenty that has bogged this company down.

"So today I'm rolling out a new management structure that I will believe will make Yahoo a lot faster on its feet. For you using Yahoo! every day it will better enable us to deliver products that make you say, 'Wow'," wrote Ms Bartz.

Analyst reaction was mixed with Ross Sandler of noting that: "This is what Carol did at Autodesk. That's one of her biggest strengths and why she was brought in."

However analyst Dough Anmuth said he is: "Increasingly concerned about Yahoo's thinning management ranks and about who internally will help guide new CEO Bartz as she moves deeper into the internet space and soon makes critical strategic decisions for the company."

Investors though seemed to like the changes with shares closing at $12.98 (Β£9.14), up 50 cents or 4% on a day when most stock indexes were down.

As a sidebar, I should note that the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ also benefits from Yahoo's shake up. John Linwood, who left his senior executive role at Yahoo last month, will join the corporation as its new CTO, a new role at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ, starting in April.