How to swear like a lady ..... The Best of Bartz!
Carol Bartz Relates Her Time, Conflicts at Yahoo
Carol Bartz sits down with WSJ's Alan Murray and discusses her times as Chief Executive of Yahoo, her conflicts and her company's Board and how best to communciate in business.
By Tom Loftus
Sunday, September 7, 2011
Carol Bartz was fired yesterday as CEO of Yahoo. During her two-year tenure, Bartz struggled to rectify a failing search relationship with Microsoft, declining display ad market share and, perhaps most importantly, a general unease toward her stewardship felt by investors. Wall Street reacted positively to the news, with stock higher by 7% this morning. Not so happy are those who have come to appreciate Bartz’s crude honesty. For some, she was a quote machine. Below, a collection of some of the best.
“None of us hate ads; we just hate crappy ads.” [Yahoo annual shareholder meeting, June 25, 2009]
“I’d love to own it. S—, why not? I don’t. I’d like to be Queen Poobah of the
world, but I’m not.” On responding to a question from Michael Arrington
about whether Yahoo would want to own Facebook’s “social graph.” [TechCrunch
Disrupt Conference, May 24, 2010]
“I don’t want to hear any crap about something magical that the fine people of Yahoo are supposed to do in this short time so f— off.” Bartz’s response after Arrington implies that Bartz is good at “financial engineering” but not at technological innovation. [TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, May 24, 2010]
“What is Yahoo? Yahoo is a company that is very strong in content. It’s moving towards the web of one.
We have 32,000 variations on our front page module. We serve a million of those a day. It’s all customized.
Our click-through rate went up twice since we started customizing this. People come to check the things they like. You can just get it together. Yahoo is one site people always stop at.” In response to the seemingly simple question: “What is Yahoo?” [TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, May 24, 2010]
“That was certainly a downer.” Bartz’s response to a shareholder’s request that she resign. [Yahoo annual shareholder meeting, June 23, 2011]
“I always do my firing in the morning because that’s when I’m fresh. I mean, why sit there all day thinking: I’m going to fire Joe at 4:59?” [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“What do I look for when hiring? Well, let’s get past the assumption that they can do the job. There has to be a no-a—— rule. We’ll go through the whole interview, and I’ll say, ‘I have one last question. I don’t work with a——-. Are you one?’ Some say, ‘What a great question! I want to work in a place that’s like that.’ But you’d be amazed at how many others hear that question and look like they’ve just been caught. Their expressions say: I guess I’m an a——. [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“My second day at Yahoo!, a year ago, I had my first all-hands meeting, and they’re all sitting there looking at me. So I do a Q&A, and a hand goes up. ‘Have you ever used a mobile device?’ Have I ever used a f—— mobile device?! I mean, God, I was sixty! I said, ‘I left my walker over there on the side, and I think I can stand here just long enough to finish this meeting.’” [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“I’d go to investor conferences—with standing room only at presentations by Used-F—–g-Golfballs.com—and I’d get four shareholders listening to me.” Bartz on working as CEO for Autodesk as the company suffered from a talent drain. [CNN, Dec. 1, 2004]
“Remind me, what’s their revenue?” Bartz is asked by a CNBC reporter about why Yahoo is not as hot as Facebook [AllThingsD, March 5, 2010]
“I don’t want to hear any crap about something magical that the fine people of Yahoo are supposed to do in this short time so f— off.” Bartz’s response after Arrington implies that Bartz is good at “financial engineering” but not at technological innovation. [TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, May 24, 2010]
“What is Yahoo? Yahoo is a company that is very strong in content. It’s moving towards the web of one.
We have 32,000 variations on our front page module. We serve a million of those a day. It’s all customized.
Our click-through rate went up twice since we started customizing this. People come to check the things they like. You can just get it together. Yahoo is one site people always stop at.” In response to the seemingly simple question: “What is Yahoo?” [TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, May 24, 2010]
“That was certainly a downer.” Bartz’s response to a shareholder’s request that she resign. [Yahoo annual shareholder meeting, June 23, 2011]
“I always do my firing in the morning because that’s when I’m fresh. I mean, why sit there all day thinking: I’m going to fire Joe at 4:59?” [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“What do I look for when hiring? Well, let’s get past the assumption that they can do the job. There has to be a no-a—— rule. We’ll go through the whole interview, and I’ll say, ‘I have one last question. I don’t work with a——-. Are you one?’ Some say, ‘What a great question! I want to work in a place that’s like that.’ But you’d be amazed at how many others hear that question and look like they’ve just been caught. Their expressions say: I guess I’m an a——. [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“My second day at Yahoo!, a year ago, I had my first all-hands meeting, and they’re all sitting there looking at me. So I do a Q&A, and a hand goes up. ‘Have you ever used a mobile device?’ Have I ever used a f—— mobile device?! I mean, God, I was sixty! I said, ‘I left my walker over there on the side, and I think I can stand here just long enough to finish this meeting.’” [Esquire, May 3, 2010]
“I’d go to investor conferences—with standing room only at presentations by Used-F—–g-Golfballs.com—and I’d get four shareholders listening to me.” Bartz on working as CEO for Autodesk as the company suffered from a talent drain. [CNN, Dec. 1, 2004]
“Remind me, what’s their revenue?” Bartz is asked by a CNBC reporter about why Yahoo is not as hot as Facebook [AllThingsD, March 5, 2010]
posted by Clare L. Pieuk at 12:22 PM
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