• Bloomberg News, Wednesday, January 14, 2009 11:30 AM

Carol Bartz, who took the job as Yahoo CEO yesterday, "won't get much of a honeymoon" with Yahoo's investors, claims Bloomberg News. Shareholders are angry that the company is trading at $12 when Microsoft swooped in a year ago with an offer at $31 per share. They either want Bartz to rekindle talks with Microsoft or possibly sell off assets--in short, anything that earns them a quick return. The sale of Yahoo Search to Microsoft is the most probable scenario. Last week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he's still open to such a partnership.

Meanwhile, hedge-fund investors, which own 20% of Yahoo, are losing patience. "There's high expectations and low patience," said Ralph Whitworth, founder of San Diego-based Relational Investors LLC. Whitworth bought 9.2 million shares of Yahoo in the third quarter of last year. "I would say within the next 90 days, there should be clear direction."

Bartz also has to contend with an exodus of talent. In recent months, Yahoo has lost top engineers and managers like Qi Lu, who left for Microsoft, and now, President Sue Decker. The company has also voluntarily trimmed ten percent of its workforce to cut costs. All in all, Bartz "doesn't have a lot of wiggle room," said Sachin Shah, an analyst with ICAP in New Jersey. "The shareholders know where the stock has been. They've seen the lows. Now they want to see the highs."

Read the whole story at Bloomberg News »