Yahoo names Carol Bartz as chief executive

Confirming earlier reports, Yahoo has officially appointed Carol Bartz as chief executive.

Bartz had been serving as chief executive and chairman of Autodesk, a software firm specialising in computer-aided design, which she joined from Sun Microsystems in 1992. Bartz also sits on the board of directors at Intel, Cisco and NetApp.

"There is no denying that Yahoo has faced enormous challenges over the last year, but I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity to create value for our shareholders and new possibilities for our customers, partners and employees," Bartz said in a statement.

The appointment closes the troubled tenure of Yahoo co-founder and former chief executive Jerry Yang.

Originally appointed to oversee a corporate overhaul and strategic shift, Yang instead found himself entangled in a public takeover battle with Microsoft and a subsequent shareholder rebellion led by Carl Icahn.

The company had been in the process of searching for a new chief executive since Yang stepped down in November.

One of Bartz's first duties could be to sort out a new deal with Microsoft. Many industry pundits believe that the appointment, coupled with an executive reshuffle at Microsoft, could jump-start a new round of talks over the sale of Yahoo's search advertising business.