Bartz announces new management structure at Yahoo but offers no details

(update below with details of the new management structure)

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz announced a management reorganization this morning in a blog entry titled "Getting our house in order" but offered no specifics on who's in and who's out. What we do know - via an SEC filing today - is that CFO Blake Jorgsensen is out.

I would think that's related to the management shakeup but it's hard to say. After all, if you're getting ready to can someone one day, do you really put them on stage the day before at a major conference like the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference? I listened to the webcast of the event yesterday and Jorgensen - in my opinion - came across as a loyal soldier.

An excerpt from Bartz' blog entry:

I’ve been on a whirlwind tour for the last six weeks, talking with everybody from executive leaders to the guys who configured my laptop. I’ve been in student mode, slowly getting smarter about what makes this place tick. And most recently, I’ve been gathering information on what it’s going to take to get Yahoo! to a great place as an organization –- and one that brings you killer products.

People here have impressed the hell out of me. They’re smart, dedicated, passionate, driven, and really nice. There’s so much great energy and frankly lots of optimism. But there’s also plenty that has bogged this company down. For starters, you’d be amazed at how complicated some things are here.

So today I’m rolling out a new management structure that I believe will make Yahoo! a lot faster on its feet. For us working at Yahoo!, it means everything gets simpler. We’ll be able to make speedier decisions, the notorious silos are gone, and we have a renewed focus on the customer. For you using Yahoo! every day, it will better enable us to deliver products that make you say, “Wow.”

update:

Carol Bartz' memo to employees outlining the new changes in Yahoo management has been posted on AllThingsD's Boomtown blog and the Management page on Yahoo's corporate site has also been updated. (See image)

In addition, Executive VP Hillary Schneider - who was on stage with CFO Blake Jorgensen at the Goldman Sachs Technology conference yesterday - has been handed oversight of the mobile division.

Yesterday, the company announced that Marco Boerries, the chief of Yahoo's Connected Life division, was leaving. And earlier this week, former VP and general manager of Yahoo News Neeraj Khemlani said he was leaving the company to accept a new post at Hearst to help with its digital transition.

Company president Sue Decker, who had been a contender for the CEO job and then resigned when Bartz was hired, is still listed as part of the management team, which must mean that the transitional period she has been sticking around for must still be in progress.

The following is the full memo from Bartz:

New Yahoo! Management Structure Overview

February 26, 2009

· Our goal as a company is simple: to consistently deliver awesome consumer and advertiser experiences everywhere in the world we do business. So we’re creating an organization to enable improvements in our product quality and operational efficiency, as well as clear decision making and accountability.

· Tech and Product groups will be combined to create a single organization called Products. Products will be led by Ari Balogh as EVP of Products and CTO, reporting to Carol Bartz, with the goal of enabling extraordinary consumer experiences tied to compelling advertiser and publisher offerings. This organization is responsible for the vision, strategy, and quality of every product we create–regardless of region, device format or category.

· There are now two regions–North America and International. The regions are responsible for delivering Yahoo!’s products, programming and services to consumers, partners and advertisers in local markets. North America will be led by Hilary Schneider, EVP, North American Region, reporting to Carol Bartz. International’s leader will be hired soon.

. Mobile will continue to be a key priority for Yahoo!. Going forward, David Ko will lead the mobile business, strategy and monetization teams for Yahoo! (Head of Global Mobile Business, reporting to Hilary Schneider). All of our product teams will be responsible for incorporating mobile innovations into their products.

· A Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) role has been created to oversee our global marketing strategy and provide direction for our marketing function. Today, we named our new CMO, Elisa Steele. Elisa starts on March 23. She will bring together the various marketing teams that have been spread across the company.

· A new Customer Advocacy group will help us to better hear the voice of the customer (consumers/advertisers) across the company and incorporate what we hear into all our work throughout Yahoo!. We will hire a new leader for this team.

· The newly created Service Engineering & Operations (SE&O) team will be chartered with delivering common technology services at scale, including application management and infrastructure. The team will be led by David Dibble, SVP of SE&O. We’re bringing Service Engineering together as one group because these engineers bring expertise that is best applied horizontally.

· Our corporate functions will consist of HR led by David Windley, Legal led by Michael Callahan, and our CFO is to be hired, with Blake Jorgensen remaining through the transition. Joel Jones will serve as Carol Bartz’s chief of staff.

· This structure is designed to last two to four years; however, we’ll continue to make adjustments as needed. But we expect this core structure will stay in place.

· These changes become effective immediately.