Carol Bartz chosen as Yahoo's next CEO

UPDATED 6:25 P.M.: Advertisers weigh in on the selection of Carol Bartz as CEO.

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Carol A. Bartz will be the next chief executive of Yahoo, and Susan Decker, one of the top candidates for the job Bartz landed, is leaving the company.

As expected, Yahoo announced this afternoon that it had picked Bartz to replace co-founder Jerry Yang, who will step down after a rocky tenure. She had served as chief executive of Autodesk, which makes computer-aided design programs for engineers and architects, from 1992 to 2006 before becoming its executive chairwoman. Yahoo said Autodesk's annual revenue grew to more than $1.5 billion, from less than $300 million, during her tenure there.

Bartz, 60, also sits on the boards of tech heavyweights Intel and Cisco Systems and on President Bush's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In announcing the hire, Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock said:

She is the exact combination of seasoned technology executive and savvy leader that the board was looking for, and we are thrilled to have attracted such a world-class talent to Yahoo. She is admired in the Valley as well as on Wall Street for her deep management expertise, strong customer orientation, excellent people skills, and firm understanding of the challenges facing our industry. Carol meets all of the criteria we set for the search and is the only person to whom we offered the job.

In the same statement, Bartz said:

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. We will seize that opportunity.

But in gaining one of the industry's top female executives, Yahoo is losing another one. Decker, who had been promoted to president when Yang took over as chief executive in June 2007 and was considered a strong candidate for the top job, is leaving. Bostock thanked her for her 8 1/2 years with Yahoo, adding, "We respect her decision to move on to other challenges and wish her only the best."

-- Chris Gaither

Photo: Carol Bartz at the Women in Technology International conference in 1998. Credit: Court Mast / Associated Press