Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is making the most substantive changes in her exec ranks since she did a massive restructuring of its staff in late February, according to sources close to the situation.

“She is continuing to clean the place up,” said one top exec about the moves, which are likely to be announced internally tomorrow.

Among the shifts in management will be filling the slot left by the departure of North American Audience head Jeff Dossett in May.

UPDATE: Sources say Yahoo’s head of mobile, David Ko, will get the job of top Audience exec, although it is not clear if he will have the same portfolio has former media heads at Yahoo.

Since Dossett left, his job has been split between Jimmy Pitaro, who runs Vertical Audience Experiences, and Tim Mayer, who is in charge of Search & Social Applications. They both currently report to U.S. EVP Hilary Schneider.

The job of Audience head is a key role, given that Yahoo’s powerful media properties are among its most valuable assets. In recent months, Yahoo has made some major changes in the way it creates its juggernaut News property.

Also to be filled is the job being done by Corporate Partnership SVP Jim Schinella, who, as BoomTown previously reported, is set to leave at the end of the year.

I could not determine who will take Schinella’s job, inside or out.

Interestingly, Yahoo has yet to name an international head.

Sources said the company had filled the position, using a headhunter, but the London-based media exec candidate backed out at the last minute. That meant Yahoo had to restart its search.

There might also be other top exec changes, all part of Bartz’s consolidation of power at Yahoo. She has named a spate of new top execs from outside, but has also kept some from the regime of former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang.

These staffing moves have come even as a stream of execs continued to depart the Silicon Valley Internet giant, including, most recently, Mike Walrath, who was SVP of advertising strategy. Walrath had led Right Media, the online ad exchange Yahoo bought for $680 million in 2007.

Walrath was widely expected to leave Yahoo in July, at the completion of his earnout from the acquisition, sources said, so the move was more sudden than expected internally.

Sources noted that Bartz moved Walrath’s departure forward in order to announce a new strategy for Right Media focused on premium publishers and to dump those ad networks and publishers of lesser ilk.

Whether this will stop the competitive onslaught in the ad exchange space is an open question given that Google has entered the fray significantly and that Facebook is widely expected to bolster its efforts.

Lastly, several sources said that there are also likely to be more changes on Yahoo’s board, which has seen the departure of two members recently.

In September, Maggie Wilderotter said she would leave the board by year’s end. And former Yahoo nemesis and investor Carl Icahn left the board in late October.

Whether Yahoo will replace them or keep its current size of 10 directors is not clear.

Also possible, several sources said, would be Bartz taking the chairman title, which is currently held by Roy Bostock. Bostock, along with Yang, played a key role in its botched takeover battle with Microsoft (MSFT).

Bartz finally successfully struck a sweeping search and advertising partnership with the software giant this summer, which is moving closer to being launched.

Yahoo and Microsoft are poised to finally sign the definitive agreement that will govern the complex and far-reaching search and online advertising partnership they struck in late July, said sources close to the situation.

If all goes well, the various Microsoft and Yahoo execs–who have been ferreted away over the last weeks, busy dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s in the massive document–could even turn in their deal homework to their bosses for signature by the end of the week.

Yahoo (YHOO) officials declined to comment, while Microsoft (MSFT) has not gotten back to BoomTown as yet.

In any case, getting the definitive agreement in place is critical to making the high-profile MicroHoo deal a reality and, of course, getting the anti-Google (GOOG) party started.

So when the pair blew through a deadline to complete it in late October, there were eyebrows raised all over Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

When Yahoo filed an 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August, it noted that the “Definitive Agreement” between the Silicon Valley Internet company and the Redmond, Wash., software giant needs to be sketched out by Oct. 27, 2009.

But it is a monster document, which is why MicroHoo did not complete it in time. After that whiff, Yahoo said as much in another filing with the SEC:

“The Letter Agreement specified that the parties would execute definitive agreements by October 27, 2009, but given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized.”

Added Microsoft similarly:

“We have made good progress in finalizing the definitive agreements. Given the complex nature of this transaction there remain some issues that need some additional clarity and definitive details.”

Nonetheless, both companies have consistently said that they would be able to close this deal by early 2010.

Yahoo and Microsoft had already done a pretty hefty binding-agreement letter (here is a picture of Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer holding it, in fact).

Also key: Getting approval for the deal from regulators in Washington, D.C., which, sources said, also seems to be on track.

With little opposition, Yahoo and Microsoft policy types have been chipping away on regulatory issues with federal regulators in Washington.

And, several sources said, those government approvals are now nearing completion at the Justice Department, even though the Federal Trade Commission might still ask for more assurances on privacy issues related to online advertising and consumer data.

International regulatory approval is another story, especially in Europe, which could further delay the implementation of the partnership, since it is unlikely the pair would move forward without clearance globally.

When that is done, the real game begins, as MicroHoo faces its the much more critical Tim Gunn acid test for the deal:

Making it work.

Longtime Yahoo tech leader Ash Patel is taking some time off until early 2010.

Yahoo (YHOO) confirmed the break to BoomTown.

In recent days, many inside the company had mistakenly thought the 44-year-old EVP for Product Architecture & Strategy was departing the company for good.

Actually, it’s more of a sabbatical for Patel (pictured here).

“Ash will be taking some well-deserved time off to spend time with his family,” said Yahoo in a statement to me. “He will be returning to Yahoo! in early 2010.”

In his latest of many jobs at Yahoo, where he has been employed since 1996, Patel works with its products organization, run by CTO and EVP of Products Ari Balogh, “to drive the development of a comprehensive product strategy, as well as potential strategic deals, helping to evolve and evaluate its audience product and technology strategy.”

It’s one of many leadership positions Patel has had at Yahoo, as the company has reorganized many times over the years, including as EVP of its Audience Products Division, EVP of Platforms and Infrastructure, SVP of Platform Engineering and chief product officer.

He also played a key role as architect of several major Yahoo products, such as MyYahoo!, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Chat and many others.

In fact, Patel ended up in a major exec role in a reorg that former Yahoo CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang did in the summer of 2008.

But the appointment of Patel to head the new Global Products group was greeted with some internal dissent, since many were pushing for faster change and new management at the Silicon Valley icon.

Yang was said to have insisted that Patel remain on as planned. He reported directly to President Sue Decker.

Patel stayed on after new CEO Carol Bartz got the top job in January, which was the subject of much interest among longtime Yahoo staff, since he has been one of the few true Yahoo veterans left in a high-ranking role.

In another reorg in late February, this time by Bartz, Patel got his latest title and was placed under Balogh.

Here is a video interview I did with Patel last December about the launch of some open and social networking initiatives at Yahoo (SVP Tapan Bhat, who had once reported to Patel, is also in the video):

In what should come as a shock to almost no one, the detailed negotiations to complete the Microsoft and Yahoo search and online advertising final agreement are more complicated than its authors anticipated and are taking longer than expected to complete.

Relax, folks–they’ll get done.

But here’s a more important thing that should wrap up sooner than later: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz’s seemingly never-ending gibes about former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang’s tenure.

First, let’s deal with the issues around the agreement, which is a monster document.

That’s why MicroHoo missed the deadline yesterday to execute its definitive agreement on the transaction struck in July.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Yahoo (YHOO) said:

“The Letter Agreement specified that the parties would execute definitive agreements by October 27, 2009, but given the complex nature of the transaction, there remain some details to be finalized.”

Added Microsoft (MSFT) in a long statement:

“Microsoft and Yahoo! are committed to this agreement and believe this is a highly competitive deal that is good for consumers, advertisers and publishers. We have made good progress in finalizing the definitive agreements. Given the complex nature of this transaction there remain some issues that need some additional clarity and definitive details. So, the teams at Yahoo! and Microsoft are continuing to work on the remaining details, and we have mutually agreed to extend the period to negotiate and execute the agreement. We plan to do this as expeditiously as possible. Both companies are optimistic that we will be able to close this deal by early 2010.”

Thus, the deadline has been pushed back indefinitely, which is very common in such larger and complicated deals.

Yahoo and Microsoft had already done a pretty hefty binding letter agreement (here is a picture of Yahoo’s Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer holding it, in fact).

Getting approval from regulators is also part of the deal, and it is likely to happen in the U.S. just after the new year.

International regulatory approval is another story, especially in Europe, which could further delay the implementation of the partnership, since it is unlikely the pair would move forward without clearance globally.

But perhaps most of all, what seems more likely to never end and probably should is the proclivity of Yahoo’s Bartz to use sharp-tongued analogies to talk about just how bad Yahoo had been doing and how it is now poised to make a comeback.

In her very first press conference when she got the job, in fact, she noted that Yahoo, “frankly, could use a little management.”

Bartz was right then and even more correct to say it out loud, but she has not stopped the criticism.

And, like clockwork, at an analyst day at Yahoo HQ in Sunnyvale, Calif., today, Bartz trotted out a yet another in a long series of backhanded insults to former CEO Jerry Yang and his crew.

Said Bartz at the event about the Silicon Valley icon:

“We have fallen and we really want to get back up. If you haven’t had good times and bad times, you don’t know what you’re doing. We prefer the good times. We have passion to get back there. Today is the start of that.”

Today is the start? Didn’t Yahoo declare a version of the same theme when the MicroHoo deal was announced in July? And at the the launch of the new homepage in September? And the more recent rollout of its massive marketing campaign?

It seems to me that since she has been there almost a year, much like the Obama administration, Bartz should not be looking backward anymore and keep announcing that it is time to get back on track.

Because she is most definitely in charge now at Yahoo and should be the one to get all praise and all blame from here on out.

So, as someone who has definitely been very tough on Yang while CEO, it’s time to stop knocking him over now, because it is starting to feel like a very cheap shot.

Carl Icahn, the activist billionaire investor who made such a noisy fuss in his quest to force management and other changes at Yahoo, is taking a much quieter leave from the Internet giant’s board.

He apparently has told the Yahoo (YHOO) board that “there was not a need at this time for an activist investor” and that he has a lot of other companies he invests in to focus on.

That’s true, of course, given a spate of troubled investments that Icahn is dealing with.

But here’s BoomTown’s quickie analysis: Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz completely ignores him.

In fact, Bartz often has gone out of her way to take little gibes at Icahn since she got the top job in January, whether it’s to say he called her too much or that he could try to fire her if he did not like the job she was doing.

For example, she just dissed him publicly in a piece in Forbes, tossing off a saucy insult:

“Icahn is just another shareholder. What’s he going to do, fire me?”

But Yahoo was cordial to Icahn as he departed, even if a lot of people at the company who had battled him were likely thinking: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”

“Carl has been an important member of our Board and has helped us through some significant transitions,” said the Yahoo statement. We are all grateful for his active role shaping the future of Yahoo! and wish him well in all his endeavors.”

Icahn in the second board member to leave under Bartz’s tenure.

Frontier Communications (FTR) CEO Maggie Wilderotter announced in late September that she was stepping down from the board by year’s end.

It will be interesting to see who–if anyone–will comes on board as a director and, of course, if there are more departures. After the departures of Wilderotter and Icahn, there will be 10 directors.

(Here is BoomTown’s No. 1 pick still in that regard.)

In taking his leave, Icahn praised the recent search and online advertising deal Bartz struck with Microsoft (MSFT), noting that it will “provide great long-term benefits, the potential of which many still do not understand.”

Nice final toss to try to spike the stock, Carl! But the MicroHoo deal, which has yet to be approved by regulators, was likely cold comfort for him.

Icahn sank large sums of money in Yahoo with hopes of a big score via the hostile takeover attempt by Microsoft at a price upward of $30 a share.

After that deal tanked, Icahn has seen his stake decline in value.

He sold 16 percent of his Yahoo shares in late August, leaving him with a 4.5 percent stake, or about 63 million shares.

It is also not clear today if Icahn intends to unload more of the stock.

In 2008, he couldn’t buy enough, scooping up the stock at much higher prices.

After mounting a proxy fight–including the lobbing of a series of poison-pen letters–against former CEO and co-founder Jerry Yang and his management team, Icahn got board seats for himself and two others (John Chapple and Frank Biondi) in July of 2008.

As Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski put it perfectly then:

“Having so persuasively argued that Carl Icahn is a doddering Luddite with no articulated plan for Yahoo other than the company’s sale to Microsoft, Yahoo has taken the logical next step and appointed the activist shareholder to its board of directors.”

At the time of the fighting, Yahoo used a quote from Icahn to insult him: “It’s hard to understand these technology companies.”

In a way, that is a pretty accurate description of Icahn’s long wrangle with the Silicon Valley icon.

And, while some might not agree with my take, this is the way the Yahoo world ends for Icahn: Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Here is Icahn’s entire letter to the Yahoo board:

To the Yahoo! Board of Directors:

I am hereby tendering my resignation as a director of Yahoo! to take effect immediately.

When I joined the Board, the company was in a state of turmoil. In the period since then, we have all worked together to achieve much for the Company, most notably bringing Carol on to be the CEO and then consummating the search deal with Microsoft. I am proud to have played a role in both these decisions. Carol is doing a great job and I believe the Microsoft transaction will provide great long term benefits, the potential of which many still do not understand.

I don’t believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the Board of Yahoo! and currently, my attention is focused on other matters. As a result, I do not presently have the time that is necessary to devote to the business and affairs of Yahoo! required if a board member is to fulfill his fiduciary duties to the shareholders

Again, I want to thank the members of the Board for acting so responsibly during my tenure. I look forward to maintaining my relationship with each of you.

Sincerely,

Carl Icahn

According to sources, Microsoft is close to striking a nonexclusive data-mining deal with Twitter to integrate the microblogging service’s full feed into the results of its Bing search service.

News of the deal, which was still being worked on by engineers and execs at both the software giant and the start-up as late as yesterday, could even come as early as today at the Web 2.0 Summit conference in San Francisco.

Qi Lu, the head of Microsoft’s online services division, is being interviewed at the event at 11:30 am PDT.

Note: Lu is scheduled to appear onstage after Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Carol Bartz, who is now too sick to attend, the company said. She also missed Yahoo’s third-quarter conference call due to an unspecified illness.

Thus, Lu is the main event of Web 2.0 tomorrow morning and it would be a good place to make a big announcement, if the talks are successful.

But sources close to the situation caution that the deal could still run into a snag and was not yet complete, although it seems more likely than not that a deal will soon be struck with Microsoft (MSFT) first and then Google (GOOG), which is the other company Twitter has been negotiating with.

BoomTown had previously reported that Twitter was in advanced talks with both the search rivals about just such a real-time search arrangement.

There could be other possibilities on the table, said sources, such as one of the big companies advertising on Twitter or any number of other Twitter partnerships with either one.

When asked about the talks onstage at Web 2.0 yesterday, Twitter CEO Evan Williams turned coy, according to numerous reports, joking “Whose deals?”

But, in fact, Twitter, which is based in San Francisco, is very much engaged in dealmaking in this regard.

Here is what I wrote previously, as to what and why:

Sources said a number of scenarios are being discussed to compensate Twitter for its huge and potentially valuable trove of real-time and content-sharing information, generated from the data stream of billions of tweets from its 54 million monthly users.

These include a number of structures, including a payment of several million dollars to Twitter, along with various revenue-sharing proposals that would give Twitter a piece of the revenue made from search results.

The deals, stressed sources close to the situation, are nonexclusive, especially because Twitter’s management is keen to remain independent and also nonpartisan in the growing search battle between Google and Microsoft.

This means Yahoo–which recently struck a search-technology and online-advertising partnership with Microsoft–could also license Twitter’s feed to make its search results even more robust, although Boomtown could not determine if the company is in talks with the San Francisco start-up.

Sources said it is also possible that no agreement would be reached with either company.

And execs at Twitter, Microsoft and Google had no comment when asked about talks.

But doing these kinds of data deals with big search players does make a lot of sense, since it would be hard for Twitter to turbocharge its own search engine without running into the big cash-laden guns at both Google and Microsoft, which recently launched its new Bing search service.

Twitter is, instead, seeking to create a large open platform, which many could plug into, from search engines to marketers to publishers to developers.

Twitter has also been considering offering premium services to these groups and is contemplating some form of advertising offering.

But, most of all, Silicon Valley’s hot start-up is focusing now on spurring growth and engagement, along with fine-tuning its product offering.

Being deeply integrated into big search services would give Twitter a huge footprint.

Microsoft had already done a small experiment this past summer integrating Twitter data into search results, starting with tweets of bloggers like me.

How much indexing of its data Twitter will allow is unclear, but the company has certainly bought itself time to think carefully about all its options, given that it now has a lot of money in the bank.

Late last month, Twitter raised another $100 million in new funding, after already having raised $55 million.

This has given it a $1 billion valuation, despite negligible revenue.

The valuation also effectively stated that the innovative company was pretty much putting itself out of play to be acquired and is very interested in forging its own destiny.

Both Google and Microsoft execs have contemplated the idea of buying Twitter in the past, although no serious talks ever moved forward.

If they both strike data deals with Twitter, they will get the next best thing–an ability to offer all the information disseminated on Twitter in search results.

Yahoo has hired a new head of mergers and acquisitions–former General Electric (GE) M&A exec Andrew Siegel, who will now be VP of corporate development.

Yahoo (YHOO) CFO Tim Morse dropped the news with exactly no details about that title in an interview with The Wall Street Journal about the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s third-quarter earnings.

Another question apparently not answered was what exactly is the status of its current top M&A exec, Greg Mrva–who has had the title Siegel has now posted on his LinkedIn profile–as well as that of VP of mergers and acquisitions more recently.

In other words: Where the heck is Greg?

BoomTown was considering a search party–get it?–if Yahoo hadn’t outsourced that to Microsoft (MSFT). Thus, Plan B: Mrva milk cartons!

On Facebook, Mrva is still listed as being in the Yahoo network, although there was a report floated recently by Silicon Alley Insider that he was asked by Morse to leave his M&A job at Yahoo and find a new one at the company.

Whatever the situation–either Mrva running it with Siegel or being hipchecked out by him–helming M&A at Yahoo can’t be a fun job right now, given that the company has been looking to sell quite a few of its assets, including its Zimbra open-source email business, its personals unit, its HotJobs online classified business and many more to come, said sources.

In fact, in a recent post, BoomTown wrote: “Mrva’s new job title should be: VP of un-mergers and de-acquisitions.”

The effort to unload big swathes of Yahoo is part of an aim by new management to slim down its diverse portfolio, even as it strives to redefine itself with a new, pricey marketing campaign that seeks to position the company primarily as a consumer offering.

Mrva has been the main exec shopping Yahoo properties around, according to many sources, a job that will now apparently be Siegel’s.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has said the company is also looking for acquisitions, mostly small, so perhaps there will be more to do for the company’s dealmakers than running an Internet garage sale.

I contacted Yahoo to find out what’s up with Siegel and Mrva, a well-liked exec in Silicon Valley, and also have reached out to him. When either responds with anything of note, I will update here.

Yahoo reported its third-quarter earnings earlier today, a pretty good performance in which it soundly beat Wall Street expectations with a stronger net income than expected.

While revenue at the Silicon Valley Internet giant was down, also as expected–both owned-and-operated search and display advertising saw big declines, 19 percent and eight percent–cost-cutting by CEO Carol Bartz and the sale of the company’s stake in China’s Alibaba.com seem to have more than made up for it.

You can read BoomTown’s liveblog of the conference call by CFO Tim Morse here, but please also enjoy Yahoo’s (YHOO) financial highlights presentation, as well as its condensed financial documents, full of more numbers than you will ever want to crunch.

And, yes, Tim Morse, because I know how little attention the work of accountants get, I have actually read them all!

Here they are:

YQ3_Q309EarningsPresentationFINAL –

YHOO Condensed Financial Documents –

Uh-oh, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was expected to appear on the Internet giant’s third-quarter earnings call, but she has apparently “came down with something,” according to CFO Tim Morse.

BoomTown is sending over chicken soup right now, but let’s hope she gets her vaccinations tout de suite!

Worst of all, no sassy quotes or cursing, replaced by a very earnest Morse, who sounded like he was once a Boy Scout.

After the markets closed, Yahoo reported better-than-expected earnings on still lackluster revenues.

Overall, the conference call boiled down to one quote from Morse that seems to have been selected as the Yahoo (YHOO) buzzword of the moment:

“The theme for third quarter was stabilization.”

2:02 pm PDT: Investor stuff from guy who sounded like a robot that I completely ignored, since I was much more interested in a conversation between two women about a bad date this past weekend, which I eavesdropped on in its entirety while liveblogging from a Starbucks (SBUX) in San Francisco.

By the way, the man whom the ladies are ripping was a very unstable date!

2:04 pm: Morse jumped on and gave everyone the bad news about Bartz being sick and the good news about the better-than-expected net income, while also updating all the various happenings of the quarter.

“I am happy to report that our Q3 revenue came in above our guidance range,” said Morse, who sounded somewhat jaunty.

Morse reeled off numbers, numbers and more numbers, some stuff about the new marketing campaign ($18 million spent so far and $45 million in the next quarter!) and other stuff about the cost cuts and fourth-quarter guidance.

Also, no sale of the company’s Alibaba in China or the Yahoo! Japan stake, thank you very much!

2:12 pm: Morse also gave a quick update about the search and online advertising partnership Yahoo has struck with Microsoft (MSFT).

His message: The Silicon Vally Internet icon is not out of search, because it is not about the algorithm, but a better search product.

Tim, you might want to roll that claim back, especially since you also might want to notice how well Google (GOOG) has done with its giant math-brains in the search business.

Morse tried mightily to channel Bartz on search, using a comparison she has made about the Intel (INTC) chip, which is widely used by computer makers. Said Morse, it’s the “differentiation” that matters!

I wonder if Yahoo will keep repeating that one, even as its search share continues to decline.

But Morse did make a funny about how many ex-Yahoos are on the Microsoft payroll now, so the partnership transition should go smoothly.

Well, there’s that!

2:28 pm: Morse mentioned Yahoo’s analysts day next week, and then opened up the call to questions.

Analysts always ask very dull questions at earnings calls and this one proved no different.

The first was about display run rate and about the search market in comparison to Google.

What’s the good word? Stabilization, of course!

The next question was about eBay (EBAY), which seems far from the point.

Morse agreed and cut it short.

Then, a question about guaranteed placement and stock buybacks. Zzzzzzzzz–even Morse sounded bored.

The Starbucks lovelorn ladies had left by now, so I was too.

2:37 pm: The next question concerned the affiliate business and how it might be affected by the Microsoft deal.

I immediately summoned the barista, since it was clearly time for a double espresso!

A question came next about when the display ad business would recover from the econalypse. Morse: Stabilization!

Then, a query about gross margins and whether they can be maintained. Morse was not saying, except to point out that there was a “good, old-fashioned, get-your-hands-dirty” attitude at work at Yahoo now about watching costs.

I was suddenly worried about dirty-handed Yahoos, just when the CEO is sick!

Use Purell, please–or suffer the wrath of Judy!

2:43 pm: Another question on ad sales and quality. Thus, I moved onto mainlining coffee beans en masse. I long for a visit from Juan Valdez!

Then, a question about Q4 guidance, which was not good enough for one analyst, who wanted more.

Morse did not really bite, although he talked a lot.

Next, a question about slow-growing page views and what was Yahoo planning to sell of its various assets.

Morse tried to be all silver-lining about page views and would not talk about specific divestitures (nor did he mention the appointment of a new head of Yahoo M&A).

“We continue to look at the landscape,” he said.

What about more job cuts or hiring, since Yahoo added 200 people in the quarter? Morse noted Yahoo was staying strong in tech talent and was “putting feet on the street” in advertising.

Also something about paid inclusion, but a new person at Starbucks was having a really good cellphone argument, so I zoned out of Morse-talk for a second!

2:56 pm: A question about premium and nonpremium inventory. Looks good on premium, said Morse.

The next query was about the different metrics between the new and old homepage, as well as a request for more info about the analyst day next week.

Morse refused to “steal my own thunder” on what is going to happen there. But, there will be thunder? I am always dubious when it comes to Yahoo and thunder.

As for the homepage, Morse said Yahoo was still evaluating the performance.

2:58 pm: Mobile. Aaaaaghhh, another chance for Morse to say not much about anything substantive. Morse: Better and more established! Translation: No moolah yet!

A head count question. Will improvement come from cost cuts due to the Microsoft deal or revenue improvements?

Three guesses and the first two don’t count. Thanks for the row-boatloads of money, Microsoft!

Something about bookings and small-to-medium businesses. Morse did not understand the question and neither did I.

Next, a question on search monetization, which has weakened. Answer: Stabilization!

3:02 pm: A question about the new $100 million branding campaign. Morse: “It’s very, very early.”

Some deal question and then one about behaviorial targeting, which Morse said will apparently be a “lifeblood” of the future.

Incredibly, Morse has gone hog-wild chatty with Bartz laid low and is asking for more questions, without making one good joke or salty remark yet.

I was completely losing it when it gets to ad exchange details and not as coffee-saturated as I needed to be.

Finally, the LAST question: Another one about divestiture and acquisition.

As if Morse was going to answer, referring instead–as he has many times in the call–to his “script.” Yahoo will buy stuff, Yahoo will sell stuff, but pretty much a no-comment!

And on that note…Carol: Please, pretty please GET WELL SOON!

Until then, here is a minidose of Bartz, via video snippets from an interview with me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference.

Her lively tone seen here at D7 would have been a good thing at today’s earnings call:

(And, here is a link to Yahoo’s presentation of its financial highlights, for those with a hankering for even more numbers.)

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/liveblogging-yahoo-third-quarter-conference-call-bartz-comes-down-with-something-and-cfo-carries-on/feed/ 0 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-beats-street-expectations-with-stronger-net-income/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-beats-street-expectations-with-stronger-net-income/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:28:35 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=19635

Yahoo bested Wall Street expectations today, announcing stronger net income for its third quarter, despite an also expected decline in revenue.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo reported net income of 13 cents a share, or $186.1 million, on revenues of $1.13 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, which was a decline from $1.33 billion the same period a year ago.

Wall Street estimated that Yahoo (YHOO) would earn just under seven cents a share on revenues of $1.12 billion.

The improvement includes a $98 million gain on a sale of the company’s stake in Alibaba.com in China, which is nonrecurring, as well as other cost-cutting by CEO Carol Bartz.

In addition, Yahoo’s expectations for the fourth quarter are more positive than those of investors.

Also in the earnings numbers: Yahoo had $4.5 billion in cash and marketable securities, as well as 13,200 employees.

But there was something to worry about: Search advertising revenue was off 19 percent and display was off eight percent at “Owned and Operated” sites on Yahoo.

Google (GOOG), in contrast, reported a seven percent rise in its recent third-quarter results last week, and its execs projected a mood of smooth sailing ahead and no more econalypse.

Nonetheless, overall, it was a solid performance from the Silicon Valley icon, especially compared to some of its recent and decidedly rockier earnings reports.

But, while investors can now breathe a little sigh of relief that the bleeding seems to have stopped, they will now likely focus on how much growth the Yahoo can have in the future.

That’s the next story for certain, starting with Yahoo’s analyst meeting next Wednesday, although today’s Yahoo management buzzword was “stablized.”

“With revenue coming in above our guidance and flat sequentially, we had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilized,” said Bartz in a press release. “With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we’re focused on what we do best–being the center of people’s online lives.”

Added CFO Tim Morse: “In the third quarter we saw strength in key areas of our business. Our efforts to reposition Yahoo! are still in the early stages, but we’re confident that our investments in the business will enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities as the economy recovers.”

You can read all about it in Yahoo’s press release here, which includes performance tables of third-quarter results, or below without tables.

More to come at the conference call at 2 pm, which BoomTown will blog live!

Here is the Yahoo press release on the quarter:

YAHOO! REPORTS THIRD QUARTER 2009 RESULTS

Company Exceeds Revenue Outlook Maintains Strong Balance Sheet with over $4.5 Billion in Cash and Marketable Debt Securities

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 20, 2009–Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) today reported revenues of $1,575 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2009, a decrease of 12 percent from the third quarter of 2008 and slightly above the second quarter of 2009. Excluding the impact of currency rate fluctuations and divested business lines, revenues for the third quarter of 2009 would have declined 7 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008.

Net income per diluted share for the third quarter of 2009 was $0.13, compared to $0.04 for the third quarter of 2008. Non-GAAP net income per diluted share for the third quarter of 2009 and 2008 was $0.15.

“With revenue coming in above our guidance and flat sequentially, we had a solid third quarter that signals our major businesses have stabilized,” said Yahoo! chief executive officer Carol Bartz. “With new products like Yahoo! homepage, our brand revitalization campaign and expansion in the Middle East through Maktoob.com, our execution is improving and we’re focused on what we do best–being the center of people’s online lives.”

:In the third quarter we saw strength in key areas of our business,” said Yahoo! chief financial officer Tim Morse. “Our efforts to reposition Yahoo! are still in the early stages, but we’re confident that our investments in the business will enable us to capitalize on growth opportunities as the economy recovers.

Revenues

* Marketing services revenues declined 12 percent and fees revenues declined 11 percent, compared to the third quarter of 2008.

* Marketing services revenues were flat and fees revenues increased 2 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2009.

* Marketing services revenues from Owned and Operated sites were $851 million for the third quarter of 2009, a 15 percent decrease compared to $1,002 million for the same period of 2008. The decrease was primarily driven by a 19 percent decline in search advertising revenue and an 8 percent decline in display advertising revenue.

* Marketing services revenues from Affiliate sites were $526 million for the third quarter of 2009, a 6 percent decrease compared to $561 million for the same period of 2008.

Cash Flow and Cash Balance

* Cash flow from operating activities for the third quarter of 2009 was $355 million, a 2 percent increase compared to $347 million for the same period of 2008.

* Free cash flow for the third quarter of 2009 was $258 million, a 20 percent increase compared to $215 million for the same period of 2008.

* Cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable debt securities were $4,503 million at September 30, 2009 compared to $3,522 million at December 31, 2008, an increase of $981 million.

Business Outlook

GAAP revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 is expected to be in the range of $1,600 million to $1,700 million. Non-GAAP operating income before depreciation, amortization, and stock-based compensation expense for the fourth quarter of 2009 is expected to be in the range of $400 million to $450 million. Income from operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 is expected to be in the range of $135 million to $155 million.

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-beats-street-expectations-with-stronger-net-income/feed/ 0 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-earnings-after-market-close-plus-live-blog-of-conference-call-at-2-pm/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-earnings-after-market-close-plus-live-blog-of-conference-call-at-2-pm/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:46:02 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=19590

It’s not likely the announcement of Yahoo’s third-quarter earnings later today will be quite as exciting as its Open Hack Day in Taiwan this past weekend, but BoomTown will try to make those numbers and the conference call afterward with CEO Carol Bartz as entertaining as possible.

Still, while recent results from both Google (GOOG) and, especially, Apple (AAPL), have been pretty impressive, no one is expecting Yahoo to blow the roof off.

So, here’s what to look for:

Wall Street is estimating that Yahoo (YHOO) will earn just under seven cents a share, with revenue of $1.12 billion. This compares with nine cents and $1.33 billion in the same period a year ago.

Some whisper numbers peg the results at close to 10 cents a share, which would be a sensation, especially given the still-recovering state of display advertising, which is Yahoo’s bread and butter.

Also likely to be asked about is the recent decline in Yahoo’s search share. According to comScore (SCOR), its share in the important U.S. market dipped to 18.8 percent in September, even as both Google and Microsoft (MSFT) saw small gains.

Yahoo is set to start an online search and advertising partnership with Microsoft, as soon as regulators give it the thumbs up, as seems likely.

And analysts will likely ask about the effectiveness of Yahoo’s $100 million marketing campaign, designed to revitalize its image, which it is ramping up.

But Bartz has also been cutting costs and streamlining staff and operations–her strong suit–which could improve the bottom line.

Yahoo shares, while up 39 percent for the year, are down 2.7 percent for the month, even as other tech firms are up.

The stock is down 1.7 percent today, hovering just under $17 a share.

Whether the results and what Yahoo has to say about the year ahead will affect the share price remains to be seen.

Until then, here is a link to a very good Q&A interview Bartz did with the New York Times about her management style, which was posted over the weekend.

Money quote, from the ever-quotable Bartz:

“I have the puppy theory. When the puppy pees on the carpet, you say something right then because you don’t say six months later, ‘Remember that day, January 12th, when you peed on the carpet?’ That doesn’t make any sense.”

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20091020/yahoo-earnings-after-market-close-plus-live-blog-of-conference-call-at-2-pm/feed/ 0 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090925/yahoo-loses-board-member-wilderotter-to-resign/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090925/yahoo-loses-board-member-wilderotter-to-resign/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:12:12 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=18830

Maggie Wilderotter, a Yahoo director who was once under consideration to be its CEO, has told the company she intends to resign from the board at the end of the year.

She has served on the Yahoo (YHOO) board since mid-2007, during its most tumultuous period ever.

Wilderotter (pictured here)–whom BoomTown just had a lovely chat with at a conference–is CEO of Frontier Communications (FTR), a large telecom services company.

She is also a former Microsoft (MSFT) exec, has been president and CEO of Wink Communications and has held a number of jobs at AT&T (T).

Said Yahoo in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission:

“On September 23, 2009, Mrs. Maggie Wilderotter notified Yahoo! Inc. (the “Company”) that she intends to resign from the Company’s Board of Directors on December 31, 2009. Mrs. Wilderotter is resigning to focus more on other responsibilities and not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter related to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”

Hmm, interesting that they had to underscore that!

(Also, I could think of a lot less worthy Yahoo board members than the talented Wilderotter who should be going.)

Wilderotter’s departure means Yahoo will only have one women on the board of the Silicon Valley Internet giant–CEO Carol Bartz.

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090925/yahoo-loses-board-member-wilderotter-to-resign/feed/ 1 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090922/yahoo-ad-campaign-creative-wed-like-to-see/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090922/yahoo-ad-campaign-creative-wed-like-to-see/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:41:13 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=18729

Yahoo introduced its new $100 million marketing and branding campaign in New York today with “It’s Y!ou” as the new motto, making use of the Internet giant’s famous exclamation point.

Sure, it’s clever and all, but BoomTown felt the need to jump in and help Yahoo (YHOO), since our posts have been a little tough when it has come to the Silicon Valley icon’s tumultuous ride over the last two years.

So, while CEO Carol Bartz (pictured above as a giant lady on the Nasdaq Jumbotron in Times Square) explained–as reported by MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka–that “Yahoo is the only site where you when you wake up in the morning and you want to know what’s going on everywhere about everything, you can find it one place,” I’d say there’s more to the brand that just that!

In fact, there’s Bartz herself, a sassy and ofttimes salty exec whose pugnacious utterances have become legend quickly.

Today, for example, when asked about a comparison with its search rival, she noted, “Why not be cynical about fricking Google?”

That was mild in comparison to her cursing me out at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference when she thought I was insinuating she was too old to be an Internet exec (you can see that exchange in the video below).

Thus, please take a gander at our branding effort for Yahoo below.

(While Yahoo has Ogilvy & Mather to do its work, ATD has the very clever Photoshop stylings of Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski to work our marketing magic.)

Best of all, you can switch out the picture and moniker to denote any Yahoo foe–Google (GOOG); Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer if he does not behave in the new search-partnership deal; billionaire investor and Yahoo board member Carl Icahn; and more!

Fondly dedicated to Carol–and the rest of the Yahoo crew, especially Judy–here’s our ad (click on the image to make it larger):

And here is Bartz in action at D7, cussing me out at 00:57 in the video of the interview:

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090922/yahoo-ad-campaign-creative-wed-like-to-see/feed/ 3 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090913/exclusive-yahoo-set-to-unveil-massive-new-marketing-campaign-at-advertising-week-declaring-size-does-matter/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090913/exclusive-yahoo-set-to-unveil-massive-new-marketing-campaign-at-advertising-week-declaring-size-does-matter/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:32:49 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=18450

Yahoo is set to unveil a major marketing campaign to reset advertiser and consumer perception of the long-troubled company during Advertising Week in New York, which starts a week from tomorrow.

According to numerous sources BoomTown has spoken to about the campaign, Yahoo (YHOO) is–at least with advertisers–going to focus on stressing the size and scale of the Internet giant.

The details of the plan will be made public Tuesday, Sept. 22, at a press conference.

It will take place immediately after a keynote speech–titled “Yahoo’s Consumer Revolution…Round II”–that the company’s new CMO, Elisa Steele, is set to deliver on the second day of the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX conference.

MIXX is a two-day event, run by IAB, focused specifically on online advertising.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz is also going to be attending Advertising Week–during which all the major players in the advertising business gather in Manhattan for a series of events–for a plethora of meetings with big Yahoo clients.

It is likely she and several other senior Yahoo execs will be at the press conference, sources said.

That press event will also include Penny Baldwin, a well-known industry exec Yahoo hired as its SVP of global integrated marketing and brand management in July.

The main message Bartz is set to deliver is that Yahoo is a powerhouse unlike any others on the Web when it comes to online display advertising.

And, in fact, Yahoo–despite all the internal and external turmoil it has undergone in recent years–remains one of the largest sites on the Internet, and is the top player in what is also called graphical advertising, as well as online media and communications.

“The whole push seems to be to remind people of vibrancy of the brand and exactly how huge its reach is,” said one person who has seen parts of the presentation. “It is less Yahoo is back than Yahoo has never left.”

Sources also noted that Yahoo is likely to stick to its plan to push the idea of “your home on the Web” to consumers, which I had previously posted about earlier this summer.

The idea of the Silicon Valley icon being the key hub destination for Internet users does dovetail with pushing its size to advertisers–major marketing messages that will also likely cost a pretty penny.

They will have to–Microsoft (MSFT) has been in the midst of a $100 million campaign for its new Bing search site and will likely spend more when it unveils updates to the service, dubbed Bing 2.0–within the next few weeks.

The company showed the changes it showed to its own employees last week, which was the subject of much tweeting on Twitter.

Yahoo will apparently give more specifics as to the spend for the marketing push at the press conference.

But, many sources said, the company is already out in the advertising market now, buying tens of millions of dollars in advertising online and offline to hawk Yahoo in print, on television and elsewhere.

(Full disclosure: Sources said that campaign will include The Wall Street Journal network, which includes this site.)

“It’s dramatic,” said one source about the marketing outlay.

Since she got to Yahoo, Bartz has continually stressed the need to promote Yahoo products and services more, including in an interview last week on CNBC (you can see that longish video here).

And, in the July earnings call for Yahoo, Bartz said: “In addition, we’re hard at work on plans to reposition our most valuable asset: Yahoo’s brand. Our Q3 plans include an initial wave of incremental marketing spend which will increase substantially into Q4 and next year.”

Also, in a Q&A in the same call, she added more about the long-term nature of the spending on branding:

“The branding and our whole campaign of advertising is just starting; however you have to understand that this is an ongoing campaign so it’s not transient at least for the next year or so. We’re really going to move to reposition the Yahoo brand and Yahoo Company, so right now, consider that as cost that’s in the system.”

What Bartz and other Yahoo execs will likely stress less is search, due to the search deal Yahoo struck in July with Microsoft in which the software giant will take over the back-end technology and Yahoo will sell search ads for both companies.

The company will compete with both Microsoft and Google (GOOG) in garnering the search market still, once the partnership is approved by regulators, with Yahoo focusing on differentiating itself via innovative user interface, design, features and functionality.

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090913/exclusive-yahoo-set-to-unveil-massive-new-marketing-campaign-at-advertising-week-declaring-size-does-matter/feed/ 0 http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090911/yahoos-bartz-8-facebooks-sandberg-22-googles-mayer-22-and-more-techies-makes-fortunes-50-most-powerful-women-list/ http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090911/yahoos-bartz-8-facebooks-sandberg-22-googles-mayer-22-and-more-techies-makes-fortunes-50-most-powerful-women-list/#comments Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:15:02 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=18347

Fortune magazine–which never met a list it did not like to make–had a solid group of women tech types on its “50 Most Powerful Women 2009” roster, the annual survey it posted yesterday.

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz made the Top Ten this year, clocking in at No. 8.

Other women geek types–many from Silicon Valley–on the list include:

Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox (XRX) at No. 9; IBM (IBM) Global Sales and Distribution SVP Ginni Rometty at No. 11; Oracle (ORCL) President Safra Catz at No. 12; Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Technology Solutions Group EVP Ann Livermore at No. 13; Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at No. 22; Charlene Begley, president and CEO, GE (GE) Enterprise Solutions at No. 27; Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay (EBAY) Marketplaces at No. 40; HP CFO Cathie Lesjack at No. 42; and, finally, Google (GOOG) Search Products and User Experience VP Marissa Mayer at No. 44.

The conference associated with the Fortune issue, spearheaded by Pattie Sellers, will take place next week, starting Monday, in Carlsbad, Calif.

Fortune is part of Time Inc., which is owned by Time Warner (TWX).

Bartz, Sandberg and others will be interviewed onstage, along with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) chairman and CEO Warren Buffett.

Will BoomTown be in attendance, with my trusty Flip digital video at the ready? Yes, indeedy, so the lady geeks should beware–and I am talking to you, Sandberg!

Until then, here’s a cable television interview Bartz did today on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Clocking in at almost 12 minutes, it’s classic Carol, with sassy catchphrases and jokes about being a really tough lady, but with little new news–except for her saying she would have sold to Microsoft (MSFT) when it was offering $33 a share way back when, because she is not “stupid.”

Indeed not.

Here’s the video:

]]> http://kara.allthingsd.com/20090911/yahoos-bartz-8-facebooks-sandberg-22-googles-mayer-22-and-more-techies-makes-fortunes-50-most-powerful-women-list/feed/ 0