deal-making

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Moxie: B+

Kara Swisher in News on February 2, 2010 at 9:15 am PT

You were expecting an A+, right? Because of all the cursing and tough talk and uber-sassy assistant and loyal sidekick, Judy. And especially, the use of elaborate barnyard metaphors from Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s growing up in Wisconsin to describe the Internet giant’s current state of affairs. But the colorful exec has been a lot more circumspect than you might realize–more Taylor Swift than Lady Gaga.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo's Carol Bartz–Deal-Making: Incomplete

Kara Swisher in News on January 25, 2010 at 9:24 am PT

Sorry for the break in grading Yahoo’s Carol Bartz on her one-year anniversary as CEO. But BoomTown was swanning around the Sundance Film Festival in Utah this weekend, went partying with those boozy Hollywood types and ended up in Provo with the crazy gals from “The Runaways”! I wish! Actually, running away from issuing any grade for deal-making for Bartz is a pretty good way to put it. Because today, after much thought, I have to give the Yahoo leader an incomplete for deal-making.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Product Innovation: D From Readers, A From Sheila and C- From BoomTown

Kara Swisher in News on January 20, 2010 at 1:05 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown asked a question on Twitter about what grade people thought I should give Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz for product innovation, because I was torn about what the grade should be. One main reason: Bartz inherited a company that has been suffering from a serious and chronic case of product constipation, after many years of leading the Web in new and innovative offerings. With every other Web competitor innovating wildly in 2009, the lack of spark from Yahoo has become worrisome.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Financials: C+

Kara Swisher in News on January 15, 2010 at 11:48 pm PT

Yesterday, BoomTown began grading the performance of Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz, after she gave herself a B- for overall performance for the one year since she took over the troubled Internet giant. But I decided to be more specific, splitting the grades into five categories: Management, financials, product innovation, deal-making and moxie. For management, I gave Bartz an A-, which some thought was too generous and others thought should have been an A+. Which means, it was just about right! Today, let’s look at financials–by which I mean Yahoo’s fiscal performance and its stock price. In this regard, Bartz only gets a C++ (it’s a techie joke, get it?).

Happy One-Year Anniversary, Carol! Party Today, Because BoomTown's Grading Begins Tomorrow.

Kara Swisher in News on January 13, 2010 at 8:00 am PT

In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz gave herself a “B-minus in her first year.” The anniversary of her arrival at Yahoo is, in fact, today. (Her first words as CEO at a press conference a year ago? “Yahoooo!” and “Friggin’.”) Predicted Bartz: “You’re just going to see Yahoo bloom more.” That’s nice, especially since BoomTown loves flowers! But, ever the stickler, it is incumbent on this Yahoo-obsessed column to weigh in on grading too, starting tomorrow and drilling down a lot more specifically on Bartz’s overall performance in 2009.

Back for Yet Another Season: The “What Will GE Do With NBC?” Show

Peter Kafka in Media on September 17, 2009 at 5:02 am PT

Even when the M&A market was shut down, Wall Street couldn’t stop speculating about GE’s intentions for its NBC Universal unit. And now that it’s deal-making time again, the chatter is getting very noisy. Hence the flurry of coverage over yesterday’s remarks by Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy, in which he said…not very much.