Bartz gets down to business

Carol Bartz has begun her reorganisation of Yahoo

Many chief executives shake up a company when they move into the top job. It's in part a need to stamp your own image on the company and also a chance to rectify past mistakes.

Carol Bartz's announcement of a shakeup in Yahoo's management structure was expected, but the speed with which she has moved will surprise some inside and outside the company.

Bartz has spent the past six weeks interviewing staff, travelling around to different locations and building her business plan. Today she put it into action.

In her first blog posting on the Yahoo Anecdotal blog Bartz promised a major shake-up, both in how the company is run and in how it presents itself.

"So today I'm rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo a lot faster on its feet," she wrote.

"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'."

We have already seen some changes. The departure of chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen had been expected for some time, despite his only joining the group in 2007. He was widely seen as being close to Sue Decker, who left shortly after Bartz took over.

The company has already announced the promotion of David Ko from the company's Asian office to head up Yahoo's mobile division, replacing Marco Boerries, who will be leaving the company.

Although no official announcements have been made regarding the rest of the team Bartz wants to put in place, an internal email to staff indicated the changes that were coming.

The Tech and Product groups are to be combined into one unit under the remit of chief technology officer Ari Balogh.

Yahoo is also now splitting Yahoo into two regional focus areas: US and International. Bartz said that Yahoo had been focused on the US market for too long and needs to broaden its reach.

She is also planning to strengthen the Yahoo brand by appointing a chief marketing officer. She has poached Elisa Steele for the role from NetApp, who will start work with Yahoo in March.

"A note about our brand. It's one of our biggest assets. Mention Yahoo practically anywhere in the world, and people yodel," said Bartz.

"“But in the past few years, we haven't been as clear in showing the world what the Yahoo brand stands for. We're going to change that. Look for this company's brand to kick ass again."

Bartz is also setting up a Customer Advocacy Group. This will work with the customer care unit to better handle complaints and future direction, and Bartz said that she is looking for a new recruit to head up the operation.

Bartz has an excellent reputation at this kind of operation. In her 14 years as chief exefcutive at Autodesk she ran a tight ship, pushed everyone (including herself) incredibly hard and left a successful company behind her.

The effect of all these changes will take a while to absorb, but it looks as though Yahoo will be quite a different company in six months' time. It needs to be if it is to survive and prosper.